npm

request was one of the first modules added to the npm registry. As npm grew so did dependence on request. Even now, when npm is used far more for front-end than back-end work, request remains one of the most depended on modules in the registry. As I write this, 41K modules depend on request and it is downloaded 14 million times a week.

The place request has in the Node.js ecosystem is no longer one of an innovator but of an incumbent. If you Google for how to do something with HTTP in Node.js the examples are likely to show request as the client and express as the server. This has two notably bad effects.

It’s much harder for new libraries accomplishing similar tasks to gain adoption because of the incumbent position request holds over the ecosystem. It’s also very hard to change request in any meaningful way as the change not only may not be adopted by the majority of its dependents but it would put it out of alignment with the thousands of blog posts and stack overflow responses that use request.