The Next Phase of Node.js

Node’s growth has continued and accelerated immensely over the last few years. More people are developing and sharing more code with Node and npm than I would have ever imagined. Countless companies are using Node, and npm along with it.

Over the last year, TJ Fontaine has become absolutely essential to the Node.js project. He’s been building releases, managing the test bots, fixing nasty bugs and making decisions for the project with constant focus on the needs of our users. He was responsible for an update to MDB to support running ::findjsobjects on Linux core dumps, and is working on a shim layer that will provide a stable C interface for Node binary addons. In partnership with Joyent and The Node Firm, he’s helped to create a path forward for scalable issue triaging. He’s become the primary point of contact keeping us all driving the project forward together.

Anyone who’s been close to the core project knows that he’s been effectively leading the project for a while now, so we’re making it official. Effective immediately, TJ Fontaine is the Node.js project lead. I will remain a Node core committer, and expect to continue to contribute to the project in that role. My primary focus, however, will be npm.

At this point, npm needs work, and I am eager to deliver what the Node community needs from its package manager. I am starting a company, npm, Inc., to deliver new products and services related to npm. I’ll be sharing many more details soon about exactly how this is going to work, and what we’ll be offering. For now, suffice it to say that everything currently free will remain free, and everything currently flaky will get less flaky. Pursuing new revenue is how we can keep providing the npm registry service in a long-term sustainable way, and it has to be done very carefully so that we don’t damage what we’ve all built together.

npm is what I’m most passionate about, and I am now in a position to give it my full attention. I’ve done more than I could have hoped to accomplish in running Node core, and it’s well past time to hand the control of the project off to its next gatekeeper.

TJ is exactly the leader who can help us take Node.js to 1.0 and beyond. He brings professionalism, rigor, and a continued focus on inclusive community values and culture. In the coming days, TJ will spell out his plans in greater detail. I look forward to the places that Node will go with his guidance.

Please join me in welcoming him to this new role :)