Thank Node 18 for fetch , streams, and a built-in test runner. Then leave it behind. What version of Node are you running in production right now? Let us know in the comments below.
// Before Node 18 (and 17.5 experimental) const fetch = require('node-fetch'); // After Node 18 async function getData() const res = await fetch('https://api.example.com/data'); const data = await res.json(); console.log(data);
Published: April 14, 2026 Author: The Dev Insider node 18
Released in April 2022, Node 18 entered LTS (Long-Term Support) later that year and officially reached its End-of-Life in April 2025. So, why are we writing about an "old" version in 2026?
This meant you could pipe fetch responses directly to file streams using a standard API: Thank Node 18 for fetch , streams, and
Node 18 reached EOL (End of Life) in April 2025. That means no more security patches. Running it today is a security risk unless your app is completely offline.
For small microservices or internal tools, Node 18's test runner eliminated configuration fatigue. No more jest.config.js , no more mocha --timeout . Just node --test and go. Streaming in Node has always been powerful but verbose. Node 18 shipped the Web Streams API as a global, matching the spec used in browsers. Let us know in the comments below
test('asynchronous passing test', async (t) => assert.strictEqual(await Promise.resolve(2), 2); );