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

Properly hijack require, i.e., properly define require hooks and customizations

Last verified Sep 9, 2026 against pirates@4.0.7. JSON

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

pirates ships CommonJS only. require("pirates") works everywhere. import "pirates" 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
4.0.7 (Mar 27, 2025)
Module format
CommonJS
Last CommonJS version
4.0.7
TypeScript types
Bundled
Node engines
>= 6
Weekly downloads
56.7M
License
MIT

Does pirates@4.0.7 actually load? Runtime test results

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

Runtimerequire("pirates")import "pirates"
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 pirates

ES modules (import)

import pirates from "pirates";

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 pirates = require("pirates");

Module format by version

Derived from the type, main and exports fields of every stable release on npm (20 versions; the newest 20 shown).

VersionsFormatFirst published
1.0.0 – 4.0.7CommonJSDec 5, 2015

Frequently asked

Is pirates ESM-only?

pirates@4.0.7 is a CommonJS package. pirates ships CommonJS only. require("pirates") works everywhere. import "pirates" 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 pirates with ES module syntax?

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

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

Does pirates ship TypeScript types?

Yes. pirates bundles its own type declarations; no @types package is needed.

Links

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