less
npmv4.9.1Leaner CSS
Safe to adopt
Yes — less scores well across adoption, maintenance, weight, supply chain, and licensing. No download data reported for this package yet. Last published 7 days ago. 25 releases in the last 2 years.
- ?Adoption: grade ?, Not reported by this registry.
No download data reported for this package yet.
- AMaintenance: grade A, Excellent.
Last published 7 days ago. 25 releases in the last 2 years.
- AWeight: grade A, Excellent.
Pulls in 2 transitive packages, about 3.1 MB installed.
- ASupply chain: grade A, Excellent.
No install scripts, 5 maintainers, and a contained dependency surface.
- ALicense: grade A, Excellent.
Apache-2.0 — permissive, with no copyleft found in the dependency tree.
Grades are computed deterministically from registry metadata collected by PackageGraph — downloads, dependents, publish dates, the resolved dependency tree, maintainer count, and declared licenses. No third-party scores are used.
Install cost
What you actually take on by adding less to a project.
Runtime packages this one declares itself.
Distinct packages in the full runtime tree, deduplicated the way a package manager would.
Unpacked size of this package plus its entire runtime tree.
Longest resolved dependency chain below this package.
Licenses in the dependency tree
Every license you inherit by installing less, not just its own. Check this before a legal review, not after.
Compatibility
- Node.js
- node >=18
- Module format
- ESM + CommonJS
- TypeScript
- No bundled types
- Install scripts
- None
Quick start
A usage example from the less README.
@primary: #4a90d9;
.button {
color: @primary;
&:hover {
color: darken(@primary, 10%);
}
}less vs the alternatives
Packages solving a similar problem in the npm ecosystem, compared on the signals that drive an adoption decision.
| Package | Weekly downloads | Dependents | License | Last release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lessthis page | 0 | 2 | Apache-2.0 | 7 days ago |
| @adobe/css-tools | 0 | 2 | MIT | 1 day ago |
| postcss | 249.3M | 7 | MIT | 1 day ago |
| node-sassdeprecated | 888.4K | 0 | MIT | 1 day ago |
| sass | 0 | 4 | MIT | 1 day ago |
| stylus | 0 | 1 | MIT | 1 day ago |
Dependencies
Declared by less v4.9.1. Runtime dependencies are installed with the package; dev dependencies are not.
Dev (52)
Used by
Popular packages that depend on less.
Native-ESM powered web dev build tool
Packs ECMAScript/CommonJs/AMD modules for the browser. Allows you to split your codebase into multiple bundles, which can be loaded on demand. Supports loaders to preprocess files, i.e. json, jsx, es7, css, less, ... and your custom stuff.
Relationship graph
Dependencies (left) and dependents (right) of less.
Frequently installed together
TypeScript definitions for node
Lexes ES modules returning their import/export metadata
An extremely fast JavaScript and CSS bundler and minifier.
Vite DevTools
Node.js library that communicates with Embedded Dart Sass using the Embedded Sass protocol
A pure JavaScript implementation of Sass.
ECMAScript parser
Share target browsers between different front-end tools, like Autoprefixer, Stylelint and babel-env-preset
React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
TypeScript definitions for estree
Lodash modular utilities.
React package for working with the DOM.
Release history
24 releases in the last two years, typically about 2 days apart.
| Version | Published | Size | License |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.0.0-alpha.4 | 5 days ago | 2.8 MB | Apache-2.0 |
| 5.0.0-alpha.3 | 6 days ago | 2.8 MB | Apache-2.0 |
| 4.9.1latest | 7 days ago | 3.1 MB | Apache-2.0 |
| 5.0.0-alpha.2 | 7 days ago | 47 KB | Apache-2.0 |
| 5.0.0-alpha.1 | 27 days ago | 47 KB | Apache-2.0 |
| 4.9.0 | 27 days ago | 3.1 MB | Apache-2.0 |
| 4.8.1 | 1 month ago | 3.0 MB | Apache-2.0 |
| 4.8.0 | 1 month ago | 3.0 MB | Apache-2.0 |
| 4.7.0 | 1 month ago | 3.0 MB | Apache-2.0 |
| 4.6.7 | 2 months ago | 3.0 MB | Apache-2.0 |
| 4.6.6 | 2 months ago | 3.0 MB | Apache-2.0 |
| 4.6.5 | 2 months ago | 3.0 MB | Apache-2.0 |
| 4.6.4 | 6 months ago | 2.4 MB | Apache-2.0 |
| 4.6.3 | 6 months ago | 2.4 MB | Apache-2.0 |
| 4.6.3-beta.0 | 6 months ago | 2.4 MB | Apache-2.0 |
Overview
less is an npm package that leaner CSS. It has 2 known dependents in the graph. The latest version is 4.9.1, released under the Apache-2.0 license.
Who should use it
Teams working in the npm ecosystem who need leaner CSS and value a focused solution.
When not to use it
Consider an alternative if you need to minimize your dependency tree, have first-class TypeScript types out of the box, or if a more actively-maintained option better fits your npm stack.
Pros
- Clear open-source license (Apache-2.0).
Cons
- Large dependency tree (61 direct dependencies) increases install size and audit surface.
- No bundled TypeScript types (may require a separate @types package).
Auto-generated from collected registry metadata. No external claims are inferred.
Frequently asked questions
Should I use less?
Yes — less scores well across adoption, maintenance, weight, supply chain, and licensing. No download data reported for this package yet. Last published 7 days ago. 25 releases in the last 2 years.
How do I install less?
Run `npm install less` to add less to your npm project.
How many dependencies does less have?
less declares 61 direct dependencies and pulls in 2 packages in total once its runtime tree is resolved totalling about 3.1 MB on disk.
What license is less released under?
less is distributed under the Apache-2.0 license.
How popular is less?
npm does not publish download counts. Within PackageGraph's crawl, 2 known packages depend on less.
Is less still maintained?
The most recent release of less (v4.9.1) was published 7 days ago.
Does less run install scripts?
No. less does not define preinstall, install, or postinstall scripts, so installing it does not execute publisher-supplied code.