What it is

sharer.js is a JavaScript library for creating custom social share buttons on DOM elements for a website. It lives in the Community & Social / Social Networking ecosystem, and its purpose is to let a site owner add share components without using jQuery. The project is described as very tiny, with no dependencies, and it is released under the MIT license. The repository metadata records 2091 stars, 202 forks, one open issue, an 11-year age, and a last push on 2026-07-21.

The concrete problem it solves is the need for lightweight social sharing controls. Sites often need buttons that share content to social networks, but a full framework or dependency chain may be too heavy for that single task. sharer.js addresses that by providing a vanilla JavaScript approach for share buttons, with topics that name Facebook, Hacker News, OK.ru, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, and Twitter as relevant targets.

Key capabilities

• Creates custom social share components on DOM elements for a website, as stated in the README.
• Uses vanilla JavaScript, matching the tagline and the javascript, vanilla, and vanilla-javascript topics.
• Avoids jQuery, which the tagline explicitly names as not required.
• Has no dependencies, according to the README.
• Its topic list names Facebook, Hacker News, OK.ru, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, and Twitter as social targets.
• It is categorized as Community & Social / Social Networking.
• It is written in JavaScript and licensed under MIT, which the repository metadata records.

Who uses it and how

• Front-end developers use it to add social share buttons to existing DOM elements on a website.
• Community and social networking pages can use it for the share targets listed in its topics, including Facebook, Reddit, Hacker News, OK.ru, Pinterest, Telegram, and Twitter.
• Projects that need a tiny sharing widget without jQuery can use it as a standalone JavaScript library.
• Users follow the README instruction to check the documentation page for installation and usage details.

Getting started

The README directs users to the documentation page for installation and usage. The homepage is http://ellisonleao.github.io/sharer.js.

When to use it — and when not to

Use it when a website needs lightweight social share buttons and wants to avoid jQuery or other dependencies. Do not use it when a project requires a hosted sharing service, database, storage, SMTP, or networks beyond the listed topics, because the facts describe only a JavaScript library and those operations. The contributor field is blank, so an evaluator must inspect the repository directly rather than rely on the directory facts for maintenance depth.