Marko

Description #

Marko is a modern, HTML-based UI templating language and framework designed for fast rendering and optimized performance on both the server and client.

History #

Marko was created by Patrick Steele-Idem at eBay around 2014. It was developed to power eBay’s massive-scale applications with fast server-side rendering, fine-grained reactivity, and compile-time optimizations.

Hello World Code #

<h1>Hello, World!</h1>

To render with data:

<h1>Hello, ${input.name}!</h1>

How to Run #

Option 1: Online
Try the official Marko REPL:
https://try.markojs.com/

Option 2: Local
Install via npm:

npm init marko
npm run dev

Or use in a simple file:

npm install marko

Example:

const template = require('./hello.marko')
template.render({ name: 'World' }, res)

Key Concepts #

• HTML-first templating syntax
• Compiles to highly optimized JS
• Supports server-side rendering (SSR)
• Fine-grained reactivity with no VDOM
• Components with scoped styles and logic
• <script> and <style> blocks inside templates
• Input passed via input object
• Works in both Node.js and browser
• Zero runtime needed for static rendering
• Built-in support for streaming, hydration, and code splitting

Try It Online #

https://try.markojs.com

Fun Facts #

• Marko powers all of eBay’s public-facing web apps, including their search and checkout pages.
• It was one of the first frameworks to adopt out-of-the-box partial hydration and streaming.
• The .marko file format is a complete UI component, combining HTML, JS, and CSS.

Resources #

Official site
Docs or tutorial
GitHub or interpreter
Community or learning resources