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

browser-side require() the node way

Last verified Sep 9, 2026 against browserify@17.0.1. JSON

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

browserify ships CommonJS only. require("browserify") works everywhere. import "browserify" 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
17.0.1 (Oct 3, 2024)
Module format
CommonJS
Last CommonJS version
17.0.1
TypeScript types
@types/browserify
Node engines
>= 0.8
Weekly downloads
1.4M
License
MIT

Does browserify@17.0.1 actually load? Runtime test results

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

Runtimerequire("browserify")import "browserify"
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 browserify

ES modules (import)

import browserify from "browserify";

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 browserify = require("browserify");

Module format by version

Derived from the type, main and exports fields of every stable release on npm (485 versions; the newest 60 shown).

VersionsFormatFirst published
8.1.0 – 17.0.1CommonJSJan 9, 2015

Frequently asked

Is browserify ESM-only?

browserify@17.0.1 is a CommonJS package. browserify ships CommonJS only. require("browserify") works everywhere. import "browserify" 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 browserify with ES module syntax?

Yes. import browserify from "browserify" 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 browserify work in Bun?

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

Does browserify ship TypeScript types?

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

Links

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