Versions:
aube is a fast package manager for Node.js projects, published by en.dev and currently available in version 2.2.4, the sole listed release of the software. Falling within the package management and developer tooling category, aube is designed for installing and managing dependencies in Node.js projects while prioritizing speed, disk efficiency, and secure defaults. It uses pnpm-style isolated node_modules for fast, disk-efficient installs, and a global content-addressable store lets projects share package files instead of keeping a full copy of the same dependencies in every checkout, reducing overall disk usage. According to current benchmarks, warm installs are about 8x faster than pnpm and about 5x faster than Bun, while repeat test commands run up to 35x faster than pnpm and up to 5x faster than Bun. A key use case is adopting aube in existing projects without lockfile migration: it reads and writes pnpm-lock.yaml, package-lock.json, npm-shrinkwrap.json, yarn.lock, and bun.lock in place, preserving each project's existing lockfile format, while new projects without a supported lockfile receive aube-lock.yaml. The tool also streamlines repeated workflows, as aubr test, aube test, and aube exec vitest auto-install when dependencies are stale and skip that work when nothing has changed, keeping repeat commands cheap. Additionally, aubx uses a locally installed binary when one is available, or a throwaway environment for one-off tools. Security is another stated focus: out of the box, exotic transitive dependencies are blocked, lifecycle scripts wait for approval, trust downgrades fail at resolve, and brand-new releases sit in a 24-hour cooling window. For stricter environments, a single paranoid: true configuration line adds a build jail and turns the soft gates into hard fails. aube targets developers seeking a faster, more conservative alternative to established Node.js package managers.
Tags: