canirequire

canirequire › Dual (CommonJS + ESM) › less

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

Leaner CSS

Last verified Sep 9, 2026 against less@4.9.1. JSON

Dual (CommonJS + ESM) Dual package — both require() and import work

less publishes both a CommonJS entry and a native ESM entry (ESM added in 4.6.0). require("less") and import "less" both work on every supported Node.js version and in Bun.

Latest
4.9.1 (Sep 2, 2026)
Module format
Dual (CommonJS + ESM)
Last CommonJS version
4.9.1
Native ESM since
4.6.0
TypeScript types
@types/less
Node engines
>=18
Weekly downloads
7.5M
License
Apache-2.0

Does less@4.9.1 actually load? Runtime test results

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

Runtimerequire("less")import "less"
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 less

ES modules (import)

import less from "less";

CommonJS (require)

const less = require("less");

Module format by version

Derived from the type, main and exports fields of every stable release on npm (110 versions; the newest 60 shown).

VersionsFormatFirst published
4.6.1 – 4.9.1Dual (CommonJS + ESM)Mar 10, 2026
4.6.0ESM-onlyMar 10, 2026
2.5.3 – 4.5.1CommonJSSep 25, 2015

Frequently asked

Is less ESM-only?

less@4.9.1 ships CommonJS and ESM builds. less publishes both a CommonJS entry and a native ESM entry (ESM added in 4.6.0). require("less") and import "less" both work on every supported Node.js version and in Bun.

Can I require less?

Yes. less ships a CommonJS entry, so require("less") works on every Node.js version, alongside the native ESM entry for import.

Does less work in Bun?

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

Does less ship TypeScript types?

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

Links

Other dual (commonjs + esm) packages

Similar popularity