canirequire › CommonJS › bower
Is bower ESM-only? Can you require() it?
The browser package manager
Last verified Sep 9, 2026 against bower@1.8.14. JSON
CommonJS CommonJS — require() works on every Node.js version
bower ships CommonJS only. require("bower") works everywhere. import "bower" also works because Node.js and Bun can import CommonJS from ES modules, but only the default export is guaranteed; named imports depend on Node's static analysis of the module.
Does bower@1.8.14 actually load? Runtime test results
Installed and executed on Sep 9, 2026 with require("bower") from a CommonJS file and import "bower" from an ES module.
| Runtime | require("bower") | import "bower" |
|---|---|---|
| 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 bower
ES modules (import)
import bower from "bower";Named imports from a CommonJS package only work when Node.js can statically detect them. If a named import fails, use the default import and destructure.
CommonJS (require)
const bower = require("bower");Module format by version
Derived from the type, main and exports fields of every stable release on npm (99 versions; the newest 60 shown).
| Versions | Format | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1.2.0 – 1.8.14 | CommonJS | Aug 19, 2013 |
Frequently asked
Is bower ESM-only?
bower@1.8.14 is a CommonJS package. bower ships CommonJS only. require("bower") works everywhere. import "bower" also works because Node.js and Bun can import CommonJS from ES modules, but only the default export is guaranteed; named imports depend on Node's static analysis of the module.
Can I import bower with ES module syntax?
Yes. import bower from "bower" works in Node.js and Bun because they support importing CommonJS modules. Named imports work only when Node.js can statically detect the exports.
Does bower work in Bun?
Yes. import "bower" loaded successfully in Bun 1.4 on Sep 9, 2026.
Does bower ship TypeScript types?
No. bower ships no type declarations and there is no @types package for it.
Links
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