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Is acorn ESM-only? Can you require() it?

ECMAScript parser

Last verified Sep 9, 2026 against acorn@8.18.0. JSON

Dual (CommonJS + ESM) Dual package — both require() and import work

acorn publishes both a CommonJS entry and a native ESM entry (ESM added in 8.0.0). require("acorn") and import "acorn" both work on every supported Node.js version and in Bun.

Latest
8.18.0 (Jul 28, 2026)
Module format
Dual (CommonJS + ESM)
Last CommonJS version
8.18.0
Native ESM since
8.0.0
TypeScript types
Bundled
Node engines
>=0.4.0
Weekly downloads
221.9M
License
MIT

Does acorn@8.18.0 actually load? Runtime test results

Installed and executed on Sep 9, 2026 with require("acorn") from a CommonJS file and import "acorn" from an ES module.

Runtimerequire("acorn")import "acorn"
Node.js 18✓ works✓ works
Node.js 20✓ works✓ works
Node.js 22✓ works✓ works
Node.js 24✓ works✓ works
Node.js 26✓ works✓ works
Bun 1.4✓ works✓ works

How to import acorn

ES modules (import)

import acorn from "acorn";

CommonJS (require)

const acorn = require("acorn");

Module format by version

Derived from the type, main and exports fields of every stable release on npm (140 versions; the newest 60 shown).

VersionsFormatFirst published
8.0.0 – 8.18.0Dual (CommonJS + ESM)Aug 12, 2020
6.0.2 – 7.4.1CommonJSSep 26, 2018

Frequently asked

Is acorn ESM-only?

acorn@8.18.0 ships CommonJS and ESM builds. acorn publishes both a CommonJS entry and a native ESM entry (ESM added in 8.0.0). require("acorn") and import "acorn" both work on every supported Node.js version and in Bun.

Can I require acorn?

Yes. acorn ships a CommonJS entry, so require("acorn") works on every Node.js version, alongside the native ESM entry for import.

Does acorn work in Bun?

Yes. import "acorn" loaded successfully in Bun 1.4 on Sep 9, 2026.

Does acorn ship TypeScript types?

Yes. acorn bundles its own type declarations; no @types package is needed.

Links

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