Node.js Digest #21: 30 Years of JavaScript, php-node, Node.js Collaboration Summit, Node.js Feature Bounty

Hello, community! The Avenga team is here with our regular monthly digest of the most interesting news from the world of Node.js and everything related to server-side JavaScript.

If You're Short on Time

🔹 If anyone had doubts about how serious the OpenJS organization is, this month should have put them to rest. OpenJS is now a CNA and can officially create CVEs whenever a serious vulnerability is found in the JavaScript ecosystem.

🔹 For JavaScript's 30th anniversary, the Deno team prepared a brief journey through the tangled yet fascinating history of JavaScript. If you'd like to read about the path from something insignificant to the language the internet now speaks, follow the link.

🔹 If you wanted to try that legendary TypeScript compiler rewritten in Go, you can now do so.

🔹 Not a month goes by without new malicious packages on npm and new attacks.

🔹 Error.isError has reached stage 4 approval at TC39.

Node.js Collaboration Summit 2025

This month, the regular Node.js Collaboration Summit took place in Paris. An event where everyone talks about Node.js — and talks a lot. In particular, everyone discussed where our beloved platform is heading and what problems need to be solved right now. There was plenty of discussion, and probably just as many croissants consumed, but here are the highlights:

Naturally, in light of recent events, everyone talked about CI and what can be done to keep hackers out. But seriously — how to improve not just security, but also stability.
Additionally, there are plans to fully release WASM modules, integrate the Oilpan library from V8, and add AsyncLocalStorage to JavaScript as a native feature.

This is far from everything, but why spoil it all here? If you're curious, follow the link to learn more.

You Can't Buy Node.js Features

Back in February, a conversation took place on X about how one could sponsor (buy) the development of specific features in Node.js:

After that, Owen Buckley created this PR, proposing a mechanism through which regular people could sponsor the development of specific features in Node.js or prioritize the fixing of certain issues.

The discussion was quite lively. There is indeed a need for financial support for everyone who dedicates a large portion of their time to working on Node.js. However, such a direct and somewhat crude way of sponsoring features for money clearly undermines the quality standards and prioritization approaches that have proven themselves well over the years. This opinion was expressed by Antoine du Hamel, one of the collaborators. He also added that users would sponsor fixes for problems they see directly, while collaborators understand from the inside what is better to work on.

There was plenty of discussion, but the TSC rejected this initiative and emphasized that there are other ways to support and sponsor Node.js.

Switching from PHP to Node.js Just Got Easier

You probably weren't expecting this, but php-node has been released. Using Rust, they wrapped PHP and now you can use it without leaving Node.js. It works as shown in the image below, and no additional explanation is needed — you can read the details at the link:

This wrapper will be very useful for legacy projects written in PHP, where migrating to Node.js previously seemed painful and massive. Now you can not only maintain your old PHP dinosaur but also create your own Frankenstein by adding Node.js to the mix.

Something to Read

🔹 How to build RAG with Llama and Node.js is explained by Michael Dawson on the Red Hat blog.

🔹 Who better than us knows all the magic of JavaScript and how sometimes the result of code execution can be not very logical at first glance. Here you can read about why the same date is actually different in JavaScript.

🔹 David Hansson continues to talk about how his company continues its cloud exit.

🔹 If ArrayBuffer, Buffer, and TypedArray are just some mysterious words whose meaning you still need to learn and understand, Anton Odmen explains them in his blog.

🔹 Performance comparisons are always interesting, especially when it comes to comparisons with Erlang and Rust.

🔹 A bit more about why using and await using are so awesome, from the V8 blog.

🔹 If you not only know Node.js well but are also interested in Go, this Reddit thread might interest you.

🔹 Matt Smith talks about optional chaining, and here about the at() method.

🔹 Electron and the fact that we can use JavaScript to write desktop applications is a miracle of sorts. Here's a bit about how to make this miracle work a little faster.

🔹 I really don't like regular expressions and can never remember them, so I keep googling. Not that this article about regular expressions solved my problem, but it will definitely be useful for someone.

🔹 There's a lot of talk about Temporal, and it's a feature the entire community has been waiting for. Here's a bit more detail on why everyone's been waiting.

Something to Watch

Matt Pocock, as always, talks about TypeScript.

Videos from NodeCongress 2025 have started appearing on YouTube: Marco Ippolito talks about native TypeScript support in Node.js.

Phil Hawksworth explains that Deno might have the tools you've been missing.

And here are some equally interesting talks from VancouverJS: James Snell talks about what compatibility actually means in Node.js.

Luca Maraschi, one of the founders of Platformatic, talks about why it's important to monitor bottlenecks in Node.js.

How Google stores information about web pages — a brief overview from ByteByteGo.

Updates/Releases

🔹 Runtimes: Node v24.1.0, Node.js v22.16.0, Node.js v23.11.1, Bun v1.2.15.

🔹 Libraries: express-zod-api, Eslint, undici, multer.

A Few More Interesting Things

🔹 A former Netflix architect explains how not to turn your project into a microservices zoo. Spoiler: sometimes a monolith isn't evil — it's common sense.

🔹 After some wandering and soul-searching, Redis is open-source again.

🔹 The rise and fall of Builder.ai — a brief overview from Fireship.

🔹 Remix dropped React in its new version — what will replace it?

🔹 An interview with David Fowler where you can hear about building developer tools and frameworks.

🔹 A useful video about how to prepare for a System Design interview. Not much new here, but for those just starting to prepare for this type of interview, it will be helpful.