canirequire

canirequire › CommonJS › esprima

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

ECMAScript parsing infrastructure for multipurpose analysis

Last verified Sep 9, 2026 against esprima@4.0.1. Markdown · JSON

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

esprima ships CommonJS only. require("esprima") works on every Node.js version we test (18, 20, 22, 24 and 26) and in Bun. The package declares Node.js >=4. import "esprima" 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.

What to do

  1. require("esprima") works on every Node.js version we test (18, 20, 22, 24 and 26) and in Bun. The package declares Node.js >=4.
  2. From ES modules use the default import: import esprima from "esprima"; then destructure. Named imports only work when Node.js can statically detect the exports.
  3. TypeScript: npm install -D @types/esprima
Latest
4.0.1 (Jul 13, 2018)
Module format
CommonJS
Last CommonJS version
4.0.1
TypeScript types
@types/esprima
Node engines
>=4
Weekly downloads
77.6M
License
BSD-2-Clause

Does esprima@4.0.1 actually load? Runtime test results

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

Runtimerequire("esprima")import "esprima"
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 1.4.0✓ works✓ works

How to import esprima

ES modules (import)

import esprima from "esprima";

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 esprima = require("esprima");

Module format by version

Derived from the type, main and exports fields of every stable release on npm, corrected where a runtime test of that version contradicted them (46 versions; the newest 46 shown).

VersionsFormatFirst published
0.7.0 – 4.0.1CommonJSNov 25, 2011

Frequently asked

Is esprima ESM-only?

esprima@4.0.1 is a CommonJS package. esprima ships CommonJS only. require("esprima") works on every Node.js version we test (18, 20, 22, 24 and 26) and in Bun. The package declares Node.js >=4. import "esprima" 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 esprima with ES module syntax?

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

Yes. import "esprima" loaded successfully in Bun 1.4.0 on Sep 9, 2026.

Does esprima ship TypeScript types?

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

Links

Other commonjs packages

Similar popularity