critical
Node.js module and CLI that extracts the above-the-fold CSS from HTML pages, inlines it and defers the rest of the stylesheets.
critical extracts the critical-path CSS from HTML pages, inlines it in the head and defers the remaining stylesheets, so the first screen can paint without waiting for a full stylesheet. It is a Node.js module with a command-line interface, installed from npm as a development dependency. The README includes a recipe for running it in CI against a build directory.
The README lists Ben Zörb as primary maintainer and Addy Osmani as creator, and points to a separate comparison document that covers Beasties.
Identity
- Status
- Active
- Maintainer
- Ben Zörb1
- Maintained by
- Individual1
- First release
- 20144
Rendering and deploy
Releases
Adoption
Sources
- 2026-10-28: name, Maintainer, Maintained by, Categories, Runtime, Install with, Runs as
raw.githubusercontent.com/addyosmani/critical/master/README.md - 2026-10-28: links, Written in, License, GitHub stars
api.github.com/repos/addyosmani/critical - 2026-10-28: links
github.com/addyosmani/critical/blob/master/README.md - 2026-10-28: First release
registry.npmjs.org/critical - 2026-10-28: Minimum runtime
raw.githubusercontent.com/addyosmani/critical/v9.0.0/package.json - 2026-10-28: License, License model
raw.githubusercontent.com/addyosmani/critical/master/license - 2026-10-28: Current major version, Last release
api.github.com/repos/addyosmani/critical/releases - 2026-10-28: Contributors
api.github.com/repos/addyosmani/critical/contributors - 2026-10-28: npm downloads a week
api.npmjs.org/downloads/range/2026-09-28:2026-10-04/critical - 2026-10-28: Dependent packages, Dependent repositories
packages.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/registries/npmjs.org/packages/critical