</>PackageGraphPackageGraph

open

npmv11.0.2TypeScript

Open stuff like URLs, files, executables. Cross-platform.

Safe to adopt

Yes — open scores well across adoption, maintenance, weight, supply chain, and licensing. 130.4M downloads per week and 4 known dependents. Last published 11 days ago. 6 releases in the last 2 years.

  • AAdoption: grade A, Excellent.

    130.4M downloads per week and 4 known dependents.

  • AMaintenance: grade A, Excellent.

    Last published 11 days ago. 6 releases in the last 2 years.

  • BWeight: grade B, Good.

    Pulls in 10 transitive packages, about 103 KB installed (at least — some of the tree is still being crawled).

  • BSupply chain: grade B, Good.

    This package has a single maintainer (bus factor of 1).

  • ALicense: grade A, Excellent.

    MIT — 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 open to a project.

6
Direct dependencies

Runtime packages this one declares itself.

10
Total installed

Distinct packages in the full runtime tree, deduplicated the way a package manager would.

103 KB
Install size

Unpacked size of this package plus its entire runtime tree.

2
Tree depth

Longest resolved dependency chain below this package.

Part of this dependency tree has not been crawled yet, so these figures are a lower bound rather than a final total.

Licenses in the dependency tree

MIT

Every license you inherit by installing open, not just its own. Check this before a legal review, not after.

Compatibility

Node.js
node >=20
Module format
ESM only
TypeScript
Types included
Install scripts
None

Quick start

A usage example from the open README.

jsFull README ↗
import open, {openApp, apps} from 'open';

// Opens the image in the default image viewer and waits for the opened app to quit.
await open('unicorn.png', {wait: true});
console.log('The image viewer app quit');

// Opens the URL in the default browser.
await open('https://sindresorhus.com');

// Opens the URL in a specified browser.
await open('https://sindresorhus.com', {app: {name: 'firefox'}});

// Specify app arguments.
await open('https://sindresorhus.com', {app: {name: 'google chrome', arguments: ['--incognito']}});
Example truncated — see the full README.

open vs the alternatives

Packages solving a similar problem in the npm ecosystem, compared on the signals that drive an adoption decision.

PackageWeekly downloadsDependentsLicenseLast release
openthis page130.4M4MIT11 days ago
unicorn-magic31.6M1MIT1 day ago
has-flag166.9M1MIT1 day ago
default-browser52.6M1MIT1 day ago
cross-fetch32.9M2MIT1 day ago
query-string22.1M3MIT1 day ago

Dependencies

Declared by open v11.0.2. Runtime dependencies are installed with the package; dev dependencies are not.

Runtime (6)

default-browser ^5.5.1define-lazy-prop ^3.0.0is-in-ssh ^1.0.0is-inside-container ^1.0.0powershell-utils ^0.2.1wsl-utils ^1.0.0

Dev (4)

@types/node ^24.10.1ava ^6.4.1tsd ^0.33.0xo ^1.2.3

Used by

Popular packages that depend on open.

vitenpm

Native-ESM powered web dev build tool

↓ 158.6M/wk◈ 26 dependents⚖ MIT
devframenpm

Framework for building one portable devtool integration that runs in any viewer.

↓ 0/wk◈ 14 dependents⚖ MITTS
@react-native/dev-middlewarenpm

Dev server middleware for React Native

↓ 0/wk◈ 2 dependents⚖ MIT
@react-native-community/cli-server-apinpm

No description provided.

↓ 0/wk◈ 1 dependents⚖ MITTS

Relationship graph

Dependencies (left) and dependents (right) of open.

default-browserdefine-lazy-propis-inside-contain…is-in-sshwsl-utilsvitedevframe@react-native/dev…@react-native-com…open
open dependencies dependents

Frequently installed together

cacnpm

Simple yet powerful framework for building command-line apps.

↓ 44M/wk◈ 9 dependents⚖ MIT
obugnpm

A lightweight JavaScript debugging utility, forked from debug, featuring TypeScript and ESM support.

↓ 61.1M/wk◈ 8 dependents⚖ MITTS
ufonpm

URL utils for humans

↓ 43.6M/wk◈ 5 dependents⚖ MITTS
mrmimenpm

A tiny (2.8kB) and fast utility for getting a MIME type from an extension or filename

↓ 37.2M/wk◈ 3 dependents⚖ MITTS
mllynpm

Missing ECMAScript module utils for Node.js

↓ 25.1M/wk◈ 7 dependents⚖ MITTS
tinyglobbynpm

A fast and minimal alternative to globby and fast-glob

↓ 0/wk◈ 8 dependents⚖ MITTS
pathenpm

Universal filesystem path utils

↓ 0/wk◈ 25 dependents⚖ MITTS
@modelcontextprotocol/sdknpm

Model Context Protocol implementation for TypeScript

↓ 0/wk◈ 1 dependents⚖ MIT
p-limitnpm

Run multiple promise-returning & async functions with limited concurrency

↓ 293.1M/wk◈ 5 dependents⚖ MITTS
h3npm

Minimal H(TTP) framework built for high performance and portability.

↓ 34.2M/wk◈ 8 dependents⚖ MITTS
destrnpm

A faster, secure and convenient alternative for JSON.parse

↓ 20.3M/wk◈ 3 dependents⚖ MITTS
valibotnpm

The modular and type safe schema library for validating structural data

↓ 16.8M/wk◈ 5 dependents⚖ MITTS

Release history

6 releases in the last two years, typically about 27 days apart.

Recent versions of open
VersionPublishedSizeLicense
11.0.2latest11 days ago58 KBMIT
11.0.127 days ago58 KBMIT
11.0.09 months ago58 KBMIT
10.2.01 year ago54 KBMIT
10.1.21 year ago55 KBMIT
10.1.11 year ago54 KBMIT
10.1.02 years ago54 KBMIT
10.0.42 years ago47 KBMIT
10.0.32 years ago47 KBMIT
10.0.22 years ago47 KBMIT
10.0.12 years ago37 KBMIT
10.0.02 years ago37 KBMIT
9.1.03 years ago47 KBMIT
9.0.03 years ago47 KBMIT
8.4.23 years ago45 KBMIT

Overview

open is an npm package that open stuff like URLs, files, executables. Cross-platform. It is extremely widely used, with about 130.4M downloads per week and 4 known dependents in the graph. The latest version is 11.0.2, released under the MIT license.

Who should use it

Teams working in the npm ecosystem who need open stuff like URLs, files, executables. Cross-platform and value a battle-tested, widely-adopted solution.

When not to use it

Consider an alternative if you need to or if a more actively-maintained option better fits your npm stack.

Pros

  • Large, well-established user base (130.4M weekly downloads).
  • Ships TypeScript type definitions.
  • Clear open-source license (MIT).

Cons

  • No significant drawbacks detected from available metadata.

Auto-generated from collected registry metadata. No external claims are inferred.

Maintainers

sindresorhus

Keywords

appargsargumentsbrowserchildcmddefaulteditorexeexecexecutablefilelaunchopenopeneropensprocessspawnstarturlurlswebsitexdgxdg-open

Funding

Frequently asked questions

Should I use open?

Yes — open scores well across adoption, maintenance, weight, supply chain, and licensing. 130.4M downloads per week and 4 known dependents. Last published 11 days ago. 6 releases in the last 2 years.

How do I install open?

Run `npm install open` to add open to your npm project.

How many dependencies does open have?

open declares 10 direct dependencies and pulls in 10 packages in total once its runtime tree is resolved totalling about 103 KB on disk.

What license is open released under?

open is distributed under the MIT license.

How popular is open?

open has approximately 130,421,477 downloads per week and 4 known dependent packages.

Is open still maintained?

The most recent release of open (v11.0.2) was published 11 days ago.

Does open run install scripts?

No. open does not define preinstall, install, or postinstall scripts, so installing it does not execute publisher-supplied code.