--- title: "How Baseline Can Help You Ship Less JavaScript — Smashing Magazine" url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-baseline-can-help-you-ship-less-javascript-smashing-magazine-kxud2fcsf source_url: https://smashingmagazine.com/2026/08/how-baseline-can-help-ship-less-javascript type: article source: "Smashing Magazine" published: 2026-08-07T14:58:13.081Z updated: 2026-08-07T14:58:46.002Z tags: ["webdev", "javascript"] reading_time: 19 upvotes: 5 comments: 1 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How Baseline Can Help You Ship Less JavaScript — Smashing Magazine **[Smashing Magazine](https://daily.dev/sources/smashing)** · 19 min read · 5 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary A practical guide to auditing JavaScript dependencies and replacing them with native browser APIs using the Baseline framework. Covers five clusters: Internationalization (Intl APIs replacing timeago.js, numeral, pluralize — ~14KB saved), HTTP clients (fetch replacing axios — ~17KB), UI primitives (dialog element and Popover API replacing tippy.js, focus-trap — ~24KB), Lodash utilities (structuredClone, Object.groupBy replacing lodash functions — ~8KB), and a case study on Temporal showing when NOT to drop a library yet (polyfill costs 44KB vs dayjs at 3KB). Includes a repeatable 5-step audit process using npm ls, Bundlephobia, webstatus.dev, and progressive enhancement patterns. Total potential savings: 60–90KB gzipped for a typical mid-sized app. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is the Baseline 'Widely available' threshold and when can I safely drop a polyfill or library? A feature reaches Baseline Widely available after it has been in all major browser engines (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) for 30 months. At that point you can use it without a fallback for virtually any audience. Features that are only Baseline Newly available have landed in all engines but may be missing on older devices, so you should check your analytics or browserslist config before dropping the library. _Teams deciding when to cut a dependency for good track Baseline status changes on daily.dev._ ### Can I replace axios with fetch and what features would I lose? fetch plus AbortController covers plain GETs and POSTs, and AbortSignal.timeout() replaces axios's timeout option. However, fetch does not reject on HTTP errors (you must check res.ok), has no interceptors, no automatic retries, and no upload progress reporting. If you only use basic requests, dropping axios saves roughly 17KB gzipped; if you rely on interceptors, wrap fetch in a custom class instead. _Developers weighing axios vs fetch for a new project find real-world trade-off breakdowns on daily.dev._ ### What are the limitations of structuredClone compared to lodash.clonedeep? structuredClone is Baseline Widely available and correctly handles Date, Map, Set, ArrayBuffer, and circular references — cases where JSON.parse(JSON.stringify()) fails. Its limits: it cannot clone functions (throws an error), cannot clone DOM nodes, and drops the prototype chain on class instances. For plain data objects, it is a clean drop-in replacement for lodash.clonedeep. _JavaScript developers replacing Lodash utilities with native APIs find the full picture on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@rizzdev** · 0 upvotes > The axios and lodash cuts have been free for years at this point, Temporal still losing to dayjs is just the part that keeps you pricing each swap ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Issue \#798: Shipping less JavaScript with Baseline — JavaScript Weekly](https://daily.dev/posts/issue-798-shipping-less-javascript-with-baseline-javascript-weekly-6k6z0uido) · JavaScript Weekly · 8 upvotes · 0 comments - [November 2025 Baseline monthly digest](https://daily.dev/posts/november-2025-baseline-monthly-digest-cdhoab0cr) · web.dev · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#webdev](https://daily.dev/tags/webdev), [#javascript](https://daily.dev/tags/javascript) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-baseline-can-help-you-ship-less-javascript-smashing-magazine-kxud2fcsf)