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Node.js

The runtime that takes JavaScript out of the browser and onto the server

Node.js is a free, open-source runtime that lets JavaScript run outside the browser - directly on a server. It powers backend APIs, real-time applications and the build tooling behind most modern websites.

DeveloperOpenJS Foundation
First released2009
LicenseMIT
Official sitenodejs.org
01 / About

Node.js is a runtime environment that runs JavaScript outside the browser - on servers and desktop machines. Created in 2009 and built on the V8 engine from Google Chrome, it is now stewarded by the OpenJS Foundation. It turned JavaScript, once a browser-only language, into a full server-side technology.

Its defining feature is an asynchronous, event-driven model: instead of pausing while a slow operation (such as a database query) finishes, the server keeps handling other requests in the meantime. This lets a single Node.js process hold thousands of open connections at once. That is why it became a standard choice for real-time products - chat, live notifications, collaborative tools and online dashboards.

Node.js ships with npm (Node Package Manager), the largest registry of ready-made code packages in the world. Developers assemble features such as payment integration, authentication or PDF generation from tested open-source modules instead of writing everything from scratch, which noticeably shortens timelines and budgets.

One more point matters in practice: almost all modern frontend tooling - Next.js, React build systems, the Tailwind CSS compiler - runs on Node.js. Even when a site's core backend is written in another language, Node.js is usually involved in building and serving it. Companies like Netflix, PayPal and LinkedIn run parts of their platforms on Node.js.

02 / Questions

Frequently asked questions

Node.js is a free, open-source runtime that lets JavaScript run outside the browser, directly on a server. It is most commonly used for backend APIs, real-time applications like chat and live notifications, and the build tooling behind modern frontend frameworks. It has existed since 2009 and is now stewarded by the OpenJS Foundation.

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