Comparison and migration guides

Use these guides to decide when Neuron-JS is the right TypeScript rules engine, when another rules library is a better fit, and how to migrate safely when JSON rules need validation, explainability, and deterministic execution.

Neuron-JS should not be chosen by default for every conditional. It fits when business logic must become data: stored, versioned, reviewed, generated, validated, executed, and explained.

Fast decision tree

• Use plain if/else when a condition is simple, local, and rarely changes.
• Use JsonLogic when you need compact, portable boolean predicates across languages.
• Use json-rules-engine when you want the established Node.js JSON rules-engine default with facts, events, and priority semantics.
• Use node-rules when maintaining an older Node.js rules-engine implementation is cheaper than migration.
• Use Neuron-JS when a TypeScript system needs serializable JSON business rules, developer-owned registry vocabulary, validation before runtime, and explainable execution traces.

Guides

• Neuron-JS vs json-rules-engine
• Neuron-JS vs JsonLogic / json-logic-js
• Neuron-JS vs node-rules
• Rules engine vs if/else

Comparison matrix

Need	Neuron-JS	json-rules-engine	JsonLogic	node-rules	if/else
Serializable rules	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	No
TypeScript-first extension points	Yes	Partial	No	No	Native code
Schema validation before runtime	Yes	Project-owned	Project-owned	Project-owned	Type checker only
Explanation traces	Yes	Project-owned	Project-owned	Project-owned	Logs/tests only
AI-generated rule safety	Strong fit	Possible with custom guardrails	Possible for predicates	Weak fit	Poor fit
Best use	Auditable JSON business rules and workflow decisions	Established JSON rules-engine workflows	Portable predicates	Existing older rules systems	Simple stable conditions

Migration baseline

Every migration should keep this validation-before-execution contract:

import {
  Neuron,
  Synapse,
  explainExecution,
  summarizeExecutionOutput,
  validateExecutionContext,
  validateScript,
} from '@sebasoft/neuron-js';

const scriptValidation = validateScript(script);
const contextValidation = validateExecutionContext(context);

if (!scriptValidation.ok || !contextValidation.ok) {
  throw new Error('Invalid Neuron-JS input');
}

const result = new Synapse(new Neuron()).execute(script, context);
const output = summarizeExecutionOutput(result);
const explanation = explainExecution({ script, result });

Migration checklist

• Identify the business decision, not only the existing code shape.
• List the approved parameters, conditions, actions, and rules.
• Convert the rule into serializable JSON.
• Validate with validateScript(script).
• Validate runtime input with validateExecutionContext(context).
• Execute through Synapse with the application registry.
• Normalize output with summarizeExecutionOutput(result).
• Explain the run with explainExecution({ script, result }).
• Add tests or snapshots for edge cases and approval workflows.

Related docs

• Schemas, validation, and explainability
• Runnable examples
• AI coding assistants
• llms.txt