nats-io/nats-server

High-Performance server for NATS.io, the cloud and edge native messaging system.

Hosted by Cloud Native Computing Foundation · part of Linux Foundation

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nats-io/nats-server has 20k+ stars and 2k+ forks on GitHub, is written in Go, and was last pushed on Oct 16, 2026. Data as of Oct 19, 00:13 UTC. Signed-in members get hourly updates — create a free account.

Summary Information

Updated 21 minutes ago

Type:Server / PlatformCategory(s):Queues, Streaming & Events Service Mesh, API Gateways & Load Balancers Data Engineering & Analytics

Added to GitGenius on June 1st, 2026

Created on October 29th, 2012

Open Issues & Pull Requests: 491 (+0)

GitHub issues: Enabled

Number of forks: 2,012

Total Stargazers: 20,893 (+0)

Total Subscribers: 384 (+0)

Repository Insights (GitGenius)

Median issue/PR response: 4.4 hours

Mean response time: 28.6 days

90th percentile: 26.5 days

Tracked items: 774

Most active contributors

Related repositories by overlapping contributors

Maintainer activity

8 people did triage or write work on this repository in the last 12 months.

Counts unlabeled, assigned, unassigned, milestoned, demilestoned, locked, unlocked over the last 12 months. These are issue and pull request events that require triage or write permission. Commits and code review are not counted. labeled and renamed are excluded because GitHub issue forms record the issue author as the actor. Figures from October 18, 2026. This count is not comparable across projects: each project's automation decides which of these events a person emits. How this is counted.

How this project is maintained

About 12% of issues opened in the past year have never received a reply. 94% of open issues come from outside the core team, so the backlog reflects real-world use rather than internal planning. Work labelled "defect" is answered fastest, typically in about 4 hours, while "accepted" waits about 4 weeks. 51% of tracked open issues have had no activity in three months. Only 58% of issues opened in the past year have been closed.

Issue Activity (beta)

Open issues: 322

New in 7 days: 2

Closed in 7 days: 1

Avg open age: 543 days

Stale 30+ days: 296

Stale 90+ days: 267

Recent activity

Opened in 7 days: 2

Closed in 7 days: 1

Comments in 7 days: 4

Events in 7 days: 15

Top labels

defect (505)
stale (253)
proposal (212)
2.12+ (32)
accepted (20)
needs design (12)
needs info (10)
easy (7)

Most active issues this week

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Detailed Description

The nats-server repository is the official Go implementation of NATS, a high-performance messaging system designed for cloud-native, edge, and distributed computing environments. NATS is part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and provides a simple, secure, and performant communications platform that can run on-premise, in the cloud, at the edge, and even on resource-constrained devices like Raspberry Pi. The server supports over 40 client language implementations, making it accessible across diverse technology stacks.

The repository is classified across multiple domains including messaging, publish-subscribe systems, event streaming, microservices architecture, distributed systems, real-time communication, message brokering, cloud-native infrastructure, scalability, and high availability. This breadth of classification reflects NATS's versatility as a foundational infrastructure component for modern distributed systems.

This distribution indicates an active maintenance cycle focused on bug fixes and feature development while managing inactive issues.

The repository maintains strong connections to related projects within the NATS ecosystem and broader Go community. This cross-project involvement suggests that NATS integrates with and influences other significant open-source initiatives.

Security is a documented priority for the project. The repository references a third-party security audit performed by Trail of Bits in April 2025, commissioned through the Open Source Technology Improvement Fund, with the full report publicly available. The project maintains a dedicated security contact at nats-security for vulnerability reporting, establishing clear channels for responsible disclosure.

The codebase is distributed under the Apache Version 2.0 license, permitting broad commercial and open-source use. The project maintains comprehensive documentation through its official website at nats.io, including detailed technical documentation, frequently asked questions, and video resources explaining both the system's design philosophy and practical usage. Community engagement occurs through multiple channels including Twitter, Google Groups, and a Slack workspace where maintainers and community members actively answer questions and discuss development.