Thougths about the "Don't Use Sails (or Waterline)" article

[Zorobabel]

Hi guys.

I am a new Node.js developer. Now I am in the process to find out a good, solid MVC framework. I was convinced with Sails but I've found this article:

https://kev.inburke.com/kevin/dont-use-sails-or-waterline/

The author presents "solid" arguments against Sails and I want to know your comments on that. Are the critics true or the author is really biased by his experience? I think the the Node.js world is overwhelming (a lot of modules, frameworks, practices, things to do something,etc.) and don't want to lose the way.

I know all frameworks have got their pros/cons and Sails isn't the exception.

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

[Manuel Darveau]

I am +1 on everything in that article...

but I still use sails. I am the reporter of "waterline truncated my table" so we dropper waterline and never used blueprint.

In the end, it was a good starting point for grunt pipeline (and then converted to gulp using a similar structure) and the service/controller bootstrap is great.

We are still one version behind (and don't plan to upgrade) since the last version broke everything by binding all service call and this break our code. I opened an issue but the problem was just denied and the breaking code was not reverted.

I think the good parts (pipeline, service/route/controller, template injection) should be converted to a yeoman template.

My 2 cents

Manuel

[Zorobabel]

Thank you Manuel, sharing your experience.

[Pablo Farías Navarro]

What would you recommend using instead Manuel?

Thanks!

[Manuel Darveau]

To replace waterline I would recommend Sequelize. I'm using it for more than a year now and I'm a happy camper.

To replace sails, I can't tell. I'm still using it but I replaced the grunt pipeline with gulp. I like the route/policy/controller/service structure it offers. I also like the config loading mechanism. Once you get through the initial learning curve (no detailed/up to date documentation!!!) it does the job quite well.

Manuel

[Adam Larson]

Honestly, we've started to hit some of the limitations of Sails recently as well. One of the biggest in my opinion is transactions. I look at the project we are developing and determine the best tool for the job. Sometimes its SailsJS, Loopback, .NET, or PHP based framework. Overall though I really enjoy working in Sails, and have launched quite a few production products that run on it.

I'd say use it unless you find something better for the type of project you are building.