Node 20

Update: Node.js v22 has been released!

Node.js recently announced that version 20 has been released.

It was only a few months ago that Node.js 19 was released. But this release improves upon 19 with performance improvements and new features.

A headline feature of Node.js 20 is the experimental permission model . By default, a Node.js process has unrestricted access to the filesystem and other features like child processes. With the new --experimental-permission flag you can enable the new permission model. Then you can use flags like --allow-fs-read and --allow-child-process to give granular permissions to a given process.

For more details, check out my short tutorial on the Permission Model .

The other notable feature of Node.js 20 is the now-stable test runner . The test runner offers basic testing features like those of Jest and Mocha . These features include describe and it/test functions, mocks, and parallel test execution.

For more details, check out my tutorial on the Test Runner .

I do not believe that the Node.js test runner will replace Jest and Mocha, but rather it will give a lightweight option when needed.

Node.js version 20 will become the next LTS release of Node.js in October 2023. At the time of writing, the current LTS is Node.js 18 .

Further Reading

• Node.js version 20 release announcement
• Full version 20 changelog
• Node.js Test Runner docs
• Node.js Permission Model
• Permission Model tutorial
• Test Runner tutorial