# Node.js Distribution Policy

This document describes some policies around what is and is not included in the
Node.js distribution.

## Inclusion

The Node.js distribution includes some external software that the Node.js
project does not maintain. The choice to include a particular piece of software
should not imply anything about that software relative to its competitors; in
some cases, software was added when it had no competitors. While the Node.js
project supports and encourages competition in the JavaScript ecosystem, as a
policy, the Node.js project does not include multiple dependencies or tools that
serve the same purpose.

The following user-accessible external tools or libraries are the ones chosen
for their particular purposes:

* JavaScript engine: V8
* Package manager: `npm`
* Package manager version manager: Corepack

Being user-accessible, removal or replacement of these projects could happen
only as a semver-major change, unless the related feature or project is
documented as experimental. In addition, Node.js includes external projects as
internal dependencies. These may be replaced or removed at any time, provided
that doing so is not a breaking change.

## History

* [corepack](https://github.com/nodejs/corepack) was added in Node.js 14.9.0 and 16.9.0. It is no longer distributed as of Node.js 25.0.0.
