Baseline support data now lands in Netlify

Netlify has become a go-to host for everything from static sites to serverless-backed applications, and its ecosystem now includes a new extension aimed at web platform compatibility. Developed by Google consultant Tony Conway in collaboration with Netlify, the Baseline (web feature support analytics) extension measures which Baseline targets are realistically supported by your site's real users. That data is directly useful when deciding which Baseline target to adopt for your project.

Installation and data collection

The extension is available through the Netlify control panel. To install it:

  1. Log in and select Extensions from the left-hand menu.
  2. Search for "Baseline".
  3. Choose Baseline (web feature support analytics) from the results.
  4. Click Install on the extension's page.

Data is gathered through an edge function, so you won't see meaningful results immediately. The extension needs at least a few days to collect enough information about your visitors' browsers before it can report which Baseline targets are well supported.

Viewing the results

Once enough data has accumulated, you can access it through your Netlify project view:

  1. Click Projects in the left-hand menu.
  2. Select the project you want to inspect.
  3. Click Baseline (web feature support analytics) in the left-hand menu of the project page.

The Baseline Netlify extension displays support for each Baseline target, going from 2015 to the current year, and including the Widely and Newly available targets.

The panel breaks down support by each Baseline target, covering fixed annual targets from 2015 through the current year as well as the rolling Newly and Widely available designations. As more data comes in over time, the view gives an increasingly accurate picture of the feature landscape your users actually encounter.

Acting on the compatibility data

With support data in hand, you can pick a Baseline target and plug it into your workflow. Pairing Baseline with Browserslist lets your build tooling automatically transpile or adjust code based on the compatibility threshold you've set through Browserslist's configuration.

You can also keep development aligned with your chosen target using linting tools like Stylelint for CSS and ESLint for HTML features, catching unsupported syntax before it ships. For day-to-day authoring, the Baseline integration in Visual Studio Code shows compatibility hovercards as you write HTML and CSS.

The extension marks a practical step forward for Baseline tooling: Netlify developers now have access to real-user support signals without leaving their hosting platform, and more additions to the tooling pipeline are expected.