--- title: "To npm, or not to (include) npm?" publication: "Node Weekly" issue: 521 published_at: "2024-02-20" canonical_url: "https://nodeweekly.com/issues/521" --- Plus some Valentine's Day releases, a forthcoming Node documentary, and turning objects into YAML strings. | #​521 — February 20, 2024 [Read on the Web](https://nodeweekly.com/issues/521) **Apologies if you noticed there was no Node Weekly last week.** This was intentional, but I forgot to mention it in advance. It's the usual weekly service now until Easter, at least.. :-) __ _Your editor, Peter Cooper_ Together with [![Memetria\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,w_600,h_145/e_make_transparent/co_white,e_outline:7/vvpdctzacmq3xehpvwps.png)](https://dashboard.memetria.com/nodeweekly/) ![Node.js Weekly](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/v1653576619/lgfqinzbdqttwmhvljxb.png) [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/rkhsdii8kauzit3jhwca.jpg)](https://socket.dev/blog/node-community-debates-enabling-corepack-unbundling-npm) [Node Community Debates Enabling Corepack by Default](https://socket.dev/blog/node-community-debates-enabling-corepack-unbundling-npm) — Node developers are wrestling with the decision to enable [Corepack](https://nodejs.org/api/corepack.html) (a tool for managing _package managers_) by default, which has sparked a debate about the possibility of even removing `npm` from the Node.js binary. (Unlikely IMO, but hey.) Sarah Gooding (Socket) [Dax: Cross-Platform Shell Tools for Node](https://david.deno.dev/posts/dax-node-js/) — If it seems similar to Google’s [zx](https://github.com/google/zx), it is, but because it uses a cross-platform shell with common built-in cross-platform commands, more code will work across different OSes. Dax was originally written for Deno (which now has [its own, native shell scripting functionality](https://bun.sh/blog/the-bun-shell)) but now supports Node too. David Sherret [![\](https://copm.s3.amazonaws.com/b21726ae.png)](https://dashboard.memetria.com/nodeweekly/) [Memetria: Secure, Scalable Redis Hosting](https://dashboard.memetria.com/nodeweekly/) — High performance Redis hosting with large key tracking, detailed metrics, and a superior uptime record. Memetria sponsor [How to Set Up a Basic Node Server App with TypeScript in 2024](https://www.learnwithjason.dev/blog/modern-node-server-typescript-2024) — Popular dev educator Jason has put together a quick tutorial on how to set up a Node project in 2024, including TypeScript, live reloading, and loading in environment variables from `.env`. Jason Lengstorf 💕 [The Node.js Valentine's Day Security Releases](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/february-2024-security-releases) — Security releases had been expected to land some time in the past two weeks and they finally landed as a Valentine's Day present in the shape of [v21.6.2 (Current)](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v21.6.2), [v20.11.1 (LTS)](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v20.11.1), and [v18.19.1 (LTS)](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v18.19.1). They include fixes for a variety of vulnerabilities, including a few _high severity_ ones in areas like HTTP-based DoS attacks and privilege escalation. Rafael Gonzaga and Marco Ippolito _IN BRIEF:_ - 🎬 Tomorrow, Honeypot is going to release a documentary about Node.js – you can [▶️ watch the trailer here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfWPqr04srM) To get a deeper feel for what it might be like, you might enjoy their recently popular [▶️ Ruby on Rails documentary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDKUEXBF3B4). - Amazon has revealed [LLRT](https://github.com/awslabs/llrt), a new 'low latency' server-side runtime (_Low Latency RunTime_, in fact). Its focus is on rapid startup times, particularly for ephemeral use cases like serverless/edge. It's built atop[QuickJS](https://bellard.org/quickjs/). - The _npm_ team at GitHub has [written about how using GitHub Codespaces](https://github.blog/2024-02-13-bringing-npm-registry-services-to-github-codespaces/) has substantially reduced the friction of its development loop and boosted productivity. - Some discussion has reignited over [the future of Express.js](https://github.com/expressjs/discussions/issues/160), as well as [▶️ a recorded meeting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beWATMWGu5Q). Early days. Fingers crossed. [Creating Your Own Vector Search in 5 Minutes with SQLite & Node](https://markus.oberlehner.net/blog/your-own-vector-search-in-5-minutes-with-sqlite-openai-embeddings-and-nodejs/) — [sqlite-vss](https://observablehq.com/@asg017/introducing-sqlite-vss) is a SQLite extension that adds basic vector storage and querying capabilities to SQLite, and you can combine it with Node and OpenAI embeddings to create your own natural language vector based search system reasonably quickly. Markus Oberlehner [Saga Pattern Made Easy](https://pages.temporal.io/download-saga-pattern-made-easy-co) — Sagas are a common development blueprint, but they can be difficult to build, test, and maintain–learn how we can help. Temporal Technologies sponsor [The Best Way to Get NVM Working in CI/CD Systems](https://gagor.pl/2023/04/the-best-way-to-get-nvm-working-in-ci/cd-systems/) Tomasz Gągor 🛠 Code & Tools [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/grcdbmsxuba3huddl4pp.jpg)](https://github.com/dashpresshq/dashpress) [DashPress: Generate Versatile, Simple Admin Apps Quickly](https://github.com/dashpresshq/dashpress) — Formerly known as _Hadmean_, this no-code admin app generator built atop Node and Next.js is easy to get started with. Just run: `npx dashpress`. If you want to see what the result is like, there’s [a live demo](https://demo.dashpress.io/) which feels fast. _(Note: AGPL 3.0 licensed.)_ Ayobami Akingbade [yamlify-object 2.0: Stringify Objects with YAML Syntax](https://github.com/eugeny-dementev/yamlify-object) — Take an object / array and turn it into a YAML string (which you can colorize with [yamlify-object-colors](https://github.com/eugeny-dementev/yamlify-object-colors) if you want to use it for debugging purposes at the console.) [js-yaml](https://nodeca.github.io/js-yaml/) is another popular option in this space (that can _parse_ YAML, too) but hasn’t had a release in three years. Eugeny Dementev 📰 Classifieds 📢 Using Redis as a Postgres cache? [Readyset](https://readyset.io/?utm_campaign=cloud&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=node-weekly) Cloud makes query caching easier without query optimization or app rewrites. [Try for free today](https://readyset.io/?utm_campaign=cloud&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=node-weekly). --- 🧑‍💻 Porkbun is the best place to get domain names, powerful hosting plans, and amazing support 365 days a year. [Get $1 off your next domain!](https://sponsr.is/tld_nodeweekly_0224) [node-libcurl 4.0: `libcurl` Bindings for Node](https://github.com/JCMais/node-libcurl) — [libcurl](https://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/) is a _very_ powerful and established way to fetch data from URLs across numerous protocols (HTTP, IMAP, SCP, SFTP, LDAP, Gopher..) Jonathan Cardoso Machado [Directus 10.9: Wrap a Database with a GraphQL & REST API](https://github.com/directus/directus) — A Node.js-powered system that acts as a frontend to a Postgres, SQLite, MySQL, Oracle, or other SQL database, providing a modern dashboard, client, and REST and GraphQL APIs. [Here's what's new in version 10.9](https://directus.io/blog/10-9-release-notes). _(Note [the BSL license](https://github.com/directus/directus?tab=License-1-ov-file#readme) which limits free use to below a certain revenue level, but then reverts to GPL after some time.)_ Monospace, Inc. - [Umzug 3.7](https://github.com/sequelize/umzug) – Framework agnostic migration tool that provides a clean API for running and rolling back tasks. - [Tedious 17.0](https://github.com/tediousjs/tedious) – TDS module for connecting to _Microsoft SQL Server._ - [Chai 5.1](https://github.com/chaijs/chai/releases/tag/v5.1.0) – BDD / TDD assertion framework. - [Mocha 10.3](https://github.com/mochajs/mocha) – Test framework for Node & browser. - [Mineflayer 4.19](https://github.com/PrismarineJS/mineflayer) – Create Minecraft bots in JavaScript. - [node-ble 1.10.0](https://github.com/chrvadala/node-ble) – Bluetooth Low Energy library. - [Pino 8.19](https://github.com/pinojs/pino) – Fast JSON-powered logging. **Got a link for us?** Reply and tell us. We can't include everything but we'll look at anything you send. _Thanks!_ --- **Sponsorship:** Email `[kristina@cooperpress.com](mailto:kristina@cooperpress.com)` for details. --- Published by Cooper Press Ltd. Fairfield Enterprise Centre, Louth, LN11 0LS, United Kingdom [Cancel your subscription](https://nodeweekly.com/leave/*|UID|*) or [change your address](https://nodeweekly.com/edit_subscription/*|UID|*).