# Materialize has not cut a release since 1.0.0 in 2018, and v1-dev is the default branch

> Materialize is an MIT-licensed CSS framework based on Material Design, built with Grunt and shipped as a prebuilt dist folder. The odd part is the version line: the newest tag is 1.0.0 from 2018-09-09, the default branch is v1-dev, and the beta is reachable under three different version strings that do not match each other.

**Dogfalo/materialize** — GitHub describes it as Materialize, a CSS Framework based on Material Design. The repository metadata lists JavaScript as its primary language. The metadata lists the MIT license. This article stays within the project description and details documented in the GitHub repository README.

- Repository: https://github.com/Dogfalo/materialize
- Website: https://materializecss.com
- Stars: 38,795 · Forks: 4,590
- Language: JavaScript
- License: MIT
- Published: 2026-08-13 · Updated: 2026-08-18 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/dogfalo-materialize

## The plain clone and the documented beta clone are the same code

The default branch is `v1-dev`, and the quickstart lists two clone commands: `git clone https://github.com/Dogfalo/materialize.git` for the standard path and `git clone -b v1-dev https://github.com/Dogfalo/materialize.git` for the beta. Since `v1-dev` is already the default, the second flag changes nothing and a plain clone already lands on the beta line. The published tags tell the other half of the story: the newest are 1.0.0 dated 2018-09-09, 1.0.0-rc.2, and 1.0.0-rc.1. The repository is not archived and its last push is dated 2026-08-20, so commits keep arriving on a branch whose contents have never been tagged as 1.1. What this cannot give you is a package that matches the head of the branch, which is the gap to plan around before pinning a version.

## The beta is addressable under three strings that do not match

Each install route spells the beta differently. npm publishes it under a dist-tag, so you install it with `npm install materialize-css@next` while the stable line is `npm install materialize-css`. cdnjs addresses the beta by putting a version segment in the path, with the library listed at materialize/1.0.0-beta. Atmosphere pins it exactly, with `meteor add materialize:materialize@=1.0.0-beta` against the stable `meteor add materialize:materialize`. Bower is still listed as `bower install materialize` but is labelled deprecated and links to guidance on migrating away from Bower. So what a reader cannot do is assume that the npm tag, the cdnjs path, and the Meteor version all point at one build. Pick one registry per project, or pin an explicit version instead of the floating tag.

## jQuery is a devDependency and the runtime dependency list is empty

The `dependencies` object in package.json is empty. Everything the runtime needs from jQuery sits in devDependencies instead, with `jquery` at `^3.2.1` and `jasmine-jquery` at `^2.1.1` listed next to the build tooling. The published file list covers `dist`, `extras`, `js/**/*.js`, `sass/**/*.scss`, and the Gruntfile, and the entry points point at `dist/js/materialize.js`, `dist/css/materialize.css`, and `sass/materialize.scss`. What this cannot do is warn you at install time. npm will not report a missing or version-conflicting jQuery because there is no declared peer relationship to report, so the failure surfaces in the browser rather than in your build log. If two packages on the page pin different jQuery majors, you own that resolution.

## The engine key is misspelled, so npm enforces no Node floor

package.json carries `"engine": "node >= 6"`, singular. The npm field is `engines`, plural, and npm ignores an unrecognized key, so the declared Node requirement is inert documentation rather than a constraint. Nothing stops an install on a runtime the project was never exercised against. That matters because the contributor toolchain is old: `node-sass` is pinned at `^4.7.2`, `phantomjs-prebuilt` at `^2.1.14`, `jasmine` at `^2.6.0`, and `prettier` at `^1.12.1`, with the whole build driven by Grunt plugins. A contributing editor therefore meets a Sass binding and a headless browser binary long before meeting a style rule. The separation is worth keeping straight: the published package has no dependencies and is unlikely to break, while `npm install` in a clone is where the friction lives.

## The build is Grunt, and dist is a committed artifact rather than a step

Compiling anything means running Grunt, not a bundler or a modern task runner. The npm scripts are `dev` mapped to `grunt monitor`, `test` mapped to `grunt travis`, and a `precommit` hook running `lint-staged` over `js/*.js` with `prettier --write`. The documentation site is built the same way, and the README gives the setup directly:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/Dogfalo/materialize
cd materialize
npm install
```

After that you run `grunt monitor` and open `localhost:8000`, with BrowserSync pushing reloads. What the pipeline cannot offer is a per-request or per-import build, since `dist` is published as-is. That is also why a consumer can drop in the compiled CSS and JavaScript with no toolchain at all, and why anyone changing the source has to run Grunt to see the result.

## The supported browser list is frozen at a 2014 baseline and still names IE 11

The compatibility list reads Chrome 35+, Firefox 31+, Safari 9+, Opera, Edge, and IE 11+. Those version numbers place the floor years before the current releases of every browser on the list, and IE 11 is still named as supported rather than deprecated. What the list cannot express is direction, because nothing states which engines the framework now actually needs and nothing describes a policy for retiring entries. For anyone maintaining this in 2026 that is a real ambiguity: the same CSS has to satisfy a browser with no CSS grid support and one that expects modern cascade layers. The copyright line in the repository also reads 2018, which suggests the list has not been revisited as the framework has been touched.

## Two v1 documents sit in the root with no matching 1.1 release

The repository root holds `v1-changelog.md` and `v1-upgrade-guide.md` alongside `CHANGELOG.md`, plus a `bower.json`, a `.travis.yml`, an `.eslintrc`, and a `.prettierrc`. A dedicated upgrade guide for v1 implies a migration story for people arriving from the pre-1.0 line, which is a different concern from a v1 to v2 one. Since no release beyond 1.0.0 has been tagged, there is no second upgrade guide to go with ongoing work on `v1-dev`. What a reader cannot get from the root is a current statement of what has changed since 2018: the changelog pointer goes to the releases section, and the only entries there are the 1.0.0 tags. Documentation for earlier releases is downloadable from the releases page, which is the compensating path.

## Conclusion

Materialize is a reasonable choice for a static or server-rendered site that wants Material Design styling without a build step of its own, and the cdnjs and npm paths both work without touching the repository. It is a poor choice if you need a release train, a declared jQuery dependency, or a toolchain that installs on a current Node, because nothing has been tagged since 2018 and the contributor path runs on Grunt with node-sass 4. Before adopting it, decide whether you want the 1.0.0 tag or the v1-dev branch, since the plain git clone and the documented beta clone give you the same code.

## FAQ

### what is materialize

It is a CSS framework based on Material Design, published as materialize-css under the MIT license. The current version is 1.0.0, and the repository states that code copyright 2018 Materialize, released under the MIT license.

### how to install materialize

There are several routes. Use `npm install materialize-css` for the stable line or `npm install materialize-css@next` for the beta, include the files from cdnjs, download the latest release from GitHub, or use `meteor add materialize:materialize`. The Bower route is listed but marked deprecated.

### how to use materialize css

Include the compiled files from cdnjs, or install the package and reference `dist/css/materialize.css`, with the stylesheet source at `sass/materialize.scss`. A getting started guide is published at materializecss.com, and the main documentation lives on the same site.

### how to use materialize

Start with the getting started guide at materializecss.com/getting-started.html, which covers downloading a release, cloning the repository, using cdnjs, or installing with npm. To read the documentation offline, clone the repository, run `npm install`, then `grunt monitor` and open `localhost:8000`.

## Sources

- [Official documentation](https://materializecss.com)
- [Official README](https://github.com/Dogfalo/materialize#readme)
- [Project repository](https://github.com/Dogfalo/materialize)
- [Release notes](https://github.com/Dogfalo/materialize/releases)

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Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/dogfalo-materialize