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plist

npmv5.0.0TypeScript

Apple's property list parser/builder for Node.js and browsers

Safe to adopt

Yes — plist scores well across adoption, maintenance, weight, supply chain, and licensing. 19M downloads per week and 2 known dependents. Last published 130 days ago. 3 releases in the last 2 years.

  • AAdoption: grade A, Excellent.

    19M downloads per week and 2 known dependents.

  • BMaintenance: grade B, Good.

    Last published 130 days ago. 3 releases in the last 2 years.

  • AWeight: grade A, Excellent.

    Pulls in 2 transitive packages, about 412 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 plist to a project.

2
Direct dependencies

Runtime packages this one declares itself.

2
Total installed

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

412 KB
Install size

Unpacked size of this package plus its entire runtime tree.

1
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 plist, not just its own. Check this before a legal review, not after.

Compatibility

Node.js
node >=18
Module format
ESM only
TypeScript
Types included
Install scripts
None

Quick start

A usage example from the plist README.

tsFull README ↗
import { parse, build } from 'plist';

// Parse any plist format (auto-detected)
const obj = parse('<plist version="1.0"><string>Hello!</string></plist>');
console.log(obj); // "Hello!"

// Build an XML plist from a JS object
const xml = build({ name: 'My App', version: 42 });
console.log(xml);

plist vs the alternatives

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

PackageWeekly downloadsDependentsLicenseLast release
plistthis page19M2MIT4 months ago
default-browser56.1M1MIT12 days ago
cheerio29.1M5MIT12 days ago
simple-plist01MIT12 days ago
bplist-parser03MIT12 days ago
fast-xml-parser04MIT12 days ago

Dependencies

Declared by plist v5.0.0. Runtime dependencies are installed with the package; dev dependencies are not.

Runtime (2)

@xmldom/xmldom ^0.9.10xmlbuilder ^15.1.1

Dev (3)

@changesets/cli ^2.29.4typescript ^5.8.3vitest ^3.1.3

Used by

Popular packages that depend on plist.

sf-symbols-typescriptnpm

```ts import type { SFSymbol } from 'sf-symbols-typescript'

↓ 7.2M/wk◈ 2 dependents⚖ MITTS
simple-plistnpm

A wrapper utility for interacting with plist data.

↓ 0/wk◈ 1 dependents⚖ MITTS

Relationship graph

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

xmlbuildersf-symbols-typesc…simple-plistplist
plist dependencies dependents

Frequently installed together

@types/nodenpm

TypeScript definitions for node

↓ 0/wk◈ 323 dependents⚖ MITTS
prettiernpm

Prettier is an opinionated code formatter

↓ 133M/wk◈ 158 dependents⚖ MITTS
jestnpm

Delightful JavaScript Testing.

↓ 47.9M/wk◈ 70 dependents⚖ MITTS
bplist-creatornpm

Binary Mac OS X Plist (property list) creator.

↓ 0/wk◈ 2 dependents⚖ MITTS
bplist-parsernpm

Binary plist parser.

↓ 0/wk◈ 3 dependents⚖ MITTS

Release history

3 releases in the last two years, typically about 132 days apart.

Recent versions of plist
VersionPublishedSizeLicense
5.0.0latest4 months ago98 KBMIT
4.0.04 months ago15 KBMIT
3.1.14 months ago983 KBMIT
3.1.03 years ago671 KBMIT
3.0.64 years ago669 KBMIT
3.0.54 years ago521 KBMIT
3.0.45 years ago520 KBMIT
3.0.35 years ago454 KBMIT
3.0.25 years ago454 KBMIT
3.0.18 years ago437 KBMIT
3.0.08 years ago437 KBMIT
2.1.09 years ago—MIT
2.0.110 years ago—MIT
2.0.010 years ago—MIT
1.2.010 years ago—MIT

Overview

plist is an npm package that apple's property list parser/builder for Node.js and browsers. It is extremely widely used, with about 19M downloads per week and 2 known dependents in the graph. The latest version is 5.0.0, released under the MIT license.

Who should use it

Teams working in the npm ecosystem who need apple's property list parser/builder for Node.js and browsers 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 (19M 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

tootallnate

Keywords

applebrowsermacparserplistxml

Frequently asked questions

Should I use plist?

Yes — plist scores well across adoption, maintenance, weight, supply chain, and licensing. 19M downloads per week and 2 known dependents. Last published 130 days ago. 3 releases in the last 2 years.

How do I install plist?

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

How many dependencies does plist have?

plist declares 5 direct dependencies and pulls in 2 packages in total once its runtime tree is resolved totalling about 412 KB on disk.

What license is plist released under?

plist is distributed under the MIT license.

How popular is plist?

plist has approximately 18,968,437 downloads per week and 2 known dependent packages.

Is plist still maintained?

The most recent release of plist (v5.0.0) was published 4 months ago.

Does plist run install scripts?

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