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Is browser-sync ESM-only? Can you require() it?

Live CSS Reload & Browser Syncing

Last verified Sep 9, 2026 against browser-sync@3.0.4. JSON

CommonJS CommonJS — require() works on every Node.js version

browser-sync ships CommonJS only. require("browser-sync") works everywhere. import "browser-sync" 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.

Latest
3.0.4 (Apr 2, 2025)
Module format
CommonJS
Last CommonJS version
3.0.4
TypeScript types
@types/browser-sync
Node engines
>= 8.0.0
Weekly downloads
650K
License
Apache-2.0

Does browser-sync@3.0.4 actually load? Runtime test results

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

Runtimerequire("browser-sync")import "browser-sync"
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 browser-sync

ES modules (import)

import browserSync from "browser-sync";

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 browserSync = require("browser-sync");

Module format by version

Derived from the type, main and exports fields of every stable release on npm (271 versions; the newest 60 shown).

VersionsFormatFirst published
2.18.13 – 3.0.4CommonJSJul 20, 2017

Frequently asked

Is browser-sync ESM-only?

browser-sync@3.0.4 is a CommonJS package. browser-sync ships CommonJS only. require("browser-sync") works everywhere. import "browser-sync" 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 browser-sync with ES module syntax?

Yes. import browserSync from "browser-sync" 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 browser-sync work in Bun?

Yes. import "browser-sync" loaded successfully in Bun 1.4 on Sep 9, 2026.

Does browser-sync ship TypeScript types?

Not bundled. Install the community types with "npm install -D @types/browser-sync".

Links

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