Elide for Node users

Elide runs Node programs, node:* modules and npm packages; this page lists what changes when you switch.

Run the same code

elide app.js                    # or: elide run app.js
elide app.ts                    # no compile step, no tsconfig.json
elide install --ecosystems=npm  # dependencies from package.json
elide test                      # node:test files

Built-ins load with or without the node: prefix.
CommonJS and ES modules both work.
http.createServer serves as in Node, as does a module that default-exports a fetch handler or calls Elide.serve({ fetch }).

See JavaScript and TypeScript, module status in the API Overview, and suite results in the Compatibility Matrix.

What changes

Node	Elide
`node app.js`	`elide app.js`
`npm install`	`elide install --ecosystems=npm`; plain `elide install` skips npm
`package-lock.json`	`aube-lock.yaml`
`npm run build`	`elide run build`
`npx tool`	`elide run tool` for a tool in `node_modules/.bin`; no download-and-run
`node --test`	`elide test`
`node --inspect app.js`	`elide run --debugger=cdp app.js`
`node --watch app.js`	No equivalent
`node --env-file=.env app.js`	Call `process.loadEnvFile()` in code
`node --permission --allow-fs-read=.`	`elide --allow-read=. app.js`; see Sandbox and Limits
`node:worker_threads`	Same module; `new Worker` honors only `workerData`, `eval`, `transferList` and `env`
`node:sqlite` `DatabaseSync`	`Database` from `elide:sqlite`; see SQLite

Elide does not set NODE_ENV.

Benchmarks

Hello-world startup with hyperfine -N -w 10 -r 100 on a 24-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9965WX Linux workstation:

Runtime	Command	Mean
Node	`node hello.js`	11.70 ± 0.90 ms
Elide	`elide run hello.js`	1.43 ± 0.06 ms
Bun	`bun hello.js`	1.63 ± 0.18 ms
Deno	`deno run hello.js`	6.31 ± 0.30 ms

Elide’s measured mean is lower than Bun’s in this recording. In the separate non-pipelined HTTP comparison, Elide served 635,510 requests/s and Node 24.22.0 LTS served 123,519 requests/s with the same load and CPU budget. See HTTP serving for the settings, latency, and raw reports.

Versions, setup, and recordings: Benchmarks.

Strengths

Runs .ts, .mts and .cts files directly.
Scopes network access by host and subprocesses by command: --allow-net=api.example.com, --allow-run=git.
Limits workers, open files, heap and run time: --limit=workers=4, --limit=fds=128, --max-mem=512m, --timeout=30s.
Includes SQLite, PostgreSQL and MySQL drivers as elide:sqlite, elide:postgres and elide:mysql.

Weaknesses

Node-API compatibility is 86.8% and WinterTC 95.9% on their test suites.
node:http2, node:cluster, node:inspector and node:wasi throw ERR_UNKNOWN_BUILTIN_MODULE.
https.createServer throws ERR_HTTPS_SERVER_UNSUPPORTED; terminate TLS in front of http.createServer.
No WebSocket global.
No bundler: elide web build transforms each file and keeps its imports.
No macOS Intel build; macOS releases are Apple Silicon only.

Run the same code

What changes

Benchmarks

Strengths

Weaknesses

Next steps