Core Modules

Core modules are built into Node.js. You do not need to install them. They cover the most common backend tasks: reading files, making HTTP requests, working with paths, and more.

Main core modules

Module	What it does
`fs`	Read, write, and manage files and directories
`path`	Parse and join file system paths across platforms
`http` / `https`	Create HTTP(S) servers and make requests
`url`	Parse and work with URLs
`os`	Access operating system information (platform, CPU, memory)
`events`	Implement event emitters (Node observer pattern)
`stream`	Work with readable and writable data streams
`querystring`	Parse query string data
`child_process`	Spawn external processes
`crypto`	Encrypt and hash data
`util`	Utility functions, including `promisify` for converting callbacks to promises
`assert`	Assertion-based testing helpers
`net`	Low-level networking (TCP/IPC)

Importing core modules

No installation needed. Import by name.

CommonJS:

const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
const http = require('http');

ES modules:

import fs from 'fs';
import path from 'path';
import http from 'http';

Modern Node.js also supports the node: prefix. This is recommended in newer code because it makes it clear you are importing a built-in module rather than an npm package with the same name:

import fs from 'node:fs';
import path from 'node:path';
import http from 'node:http';

For more detail on each module, see the Node.js documentation .

Core Modules

Main core modules

Importing core modules

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