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

Generate massive amounts of fake contextual data

Last verified Sep 9, 2026 against faker@6.6.6. JSON

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

faker ships CommonJS only. require("faker") works everywhere. import "faker" 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
6.6.6 (Jan 5, 2022)
Module format
CommonJS
Last CommonJS version
6.6.6
TypeScript types
@types/faker
Node engines
not declared
Weekly downloads
1.9M
License
MIT

Does faker@6.6.6 actually load? Runtime test results

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

Runtimerequire("faker")import "faker"
Node.js 18✗ failsMODULE_NOT_FOUND✗ failsERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND
Node.js 20✗ failsMODULE_NOT_FOUND✗ failsERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND
Node.js 22✗ failsMODULE_NOT_FOUND✗ failsERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND
Node.js 24✗ failsMODULE_NOT_FOUND✗ failsERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND
Node.js 26✗ failsMODULE_NOT_FOUND✗ failsERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND
Bun 1.4✗ failserror: Cannot find package 'faker' from '/Users/boat/Projects/top-seo/data/probe-work/faker/req.cjs'✗ failserror: Cannot find package 'faker' from '/Users/boat/Projects/top-seo/data/probe-work/faker/imp.mjs'

A failing require() on a CommonJS package usually means the package needs a browser/DOM global, a peer dependency, or a native binary that is not available in a bare Node.js process.

How to import faker

ES modules (import)

import faker from "faker";

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 faker = require("faker");

Module format by version

Derived from the type, main and exports fields of every stable release on npm (29 versions; the newest 29 shown).

VersionsFormatFirst published
1.0.0 – 6.6.6CommonJSMay 21, 2014

Frequently asked

Is faker ESM-only?

faker@6.6.6 is a CommonJS package. faker ships CommonJS only. require("faker") works everywhere. import "faker" 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 faker with ES module syntax?

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

Importing faker failed in Bun 1.4 on Sep 9, 2026: error: Cannot find package 'faker' from '/Users/boat/Projects/top-seo/data/probe-work/faker/imp.mjs'

Does faker ship TypeScript types?

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

Links

Other commonjs packages

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