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

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Last verified Sep 9, 2026 against jsdoc@4.0.5. JSON

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

jsdoc ships CommonJS only. require("jsdoc") works everywhere. import "jsdoc" 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
4.0.5 (Oct 8, 2025)
Module format
CommonJS
Last CommonJS version
4.0.5
TypeScript types
None
Node engines
>=12.0.0
Weekly downloads
2.6M
License
Apache-2.0

Does jsdoc@4.0.5 actually load? Runtime test results

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

Runtimerequire("jsdoc")import "jsdoc"
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 'jsdoc' from '/Users/boat/Projects/top-seo/data/probe-work/jsdoc/req.cjs'✗ failserror: Cannot find package 'jsdoc' from '/Users/boat/Projects/top-seo/data/probe-work/jsdoc/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 jsdoc

ES modules (import)

import jsdoc from "jsdoc";

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 jsdoc = require("jsdoc");

Module format by version

Derived from the type, main and exports fields of every stable release on npm (36 versions; the newest 36 shown).

VersionsFormatFirst published
0.0.0 – 4.0.5CommonJSSep 19, 2011

Frequently asked

Is jsdoc ESM-only?

jsdoc@4.0.5 is a CommonJS package. jsdoc ships CommonJS only. require("jsdoc") works everywhere. import "jsdoc" 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 jsdoc with ES module syntax?

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

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

Does jsdoc ship TypeScript types?

No. jsdoc ships no type declarations and there is no @types package for it.

Links

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