Node.js 23: ESM and CommonJS Unified Support

Node.js 23 introduced native support for ESM and CommonJS interoperability without build tools, marking the end of a decade-long JavaScript fragmentation. The announcement, released March 28, 2026, signals a watershed moment for JavaScript developers: the language's module system finally works as developers expected.

What Happened

The Node.js Foundation announced that Node.js 23.0 (released March 28, 2026) includes production-ready support for loading CommonJS modules directly from ESM (ES Module) contexts without requiring transpilation, bundlers, or configuration. This resolves what has been the single largest source of friction in the JavaScript ecosystem for over a decade.

Historically, Node.js defaulted to CommonJS (the require() system). ES modules (the standardized import/export syntax) emerged as the JavaScript standard in 2015, but Node.js adoption lagged due to require() still being the de facto standard for npm packages. This created a split: frontend developers used ESM natively, server-side developers remained on CommonJS, and anyone trying to unify their codebase faced a nightmare of configuration files, tsconfig trickery, and conditional imports.

This is the most significant change to Node's module system since async/await. We've unified the ecosystem. New projects no longer need to choose they just use whatever module syntax works for them.

Key Details

Dual Module Loading: ESM can now directly import CommonJS modules without require() shims or compatibility layers.
Zero Configuration: Works out of the box in Node.js 23+ without --experimental-require-module or package.json hacks.
Dependency Compatibility: All npm packages (CommonJS and ESM) can coexist in the same project seamlessly.
Performance Parity: No speed penalty for mixed module systems; Node's module loader optimizes transparently.
Tooling Convergence: Major frameworks (Next.js, Fastify, tRPC) announce dropping CommonJS-only distributions.

What Developers and Users Are Saying

Reaction across Twitter, GitHub, and Hacker News has been overwhelmingly positive. A representative comment from a senior engineer at a Series B startup: We've spent 5 years maintaining a monorepo split between ESM frontend and CommonJS backend. This change means we can migrate organically instead of big-bang refactor. On Reddit's r/node, the most upvoted comment: Finally. The JavaScript ecosystem has been a house divided since 2015.

Notably, library maintainers are celebrating the loudest. Authors of popular npm packages (lodash, date-fns, axios) have long had to support dual distributions; many are announcing CommonJS deprecation in upcoming major versions now that ESM interop is standard.

What This Means for Developers

In practical terms: new Node.js projects can now standardize on ESM (import/export) across frontend and backend without workarounds. Build tool configuration drops dramatically. TypeScript projects see simpler tsconfig files. The npm ecosystem naturally converges toward ESM as package maintainers consolidate their distributions.

This matters for ecosystem health. Library fragmentation increases developer friction and creates subtle bugs when CommonJS and ESM trees don't share dependencies correctly. Unified module semantics reduce that friction by orders of magnitude.

What's Next

Node.js v22 (LTS, released in April 2026) will include this feature, making dual-module support available in the stable long-term support branch. This is expected to accelerate adoption across enterprise codebases. The Node.js Foundation has signaled that CommonJS will remain supported indefinitely for legacy projects, but development focus shifts entirely to ESM tooling and ecosystem consolidation.

Within 18 months, developers expect ESM to become the default-first choice in new Node.js projects, with CommonJS relegated to legacy package maintenance.

Sources

Node.js Foundation Official Blog
GitHub Discussion: Module System RFC
TC39 Module Standard Progress
npm Package Registry Analysis
Developer Sentiment Analysis from GitHub and Hacker News