nodejs / nodejs/node

fs module should support writing from Blob and web ReadableStream sources

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feature request
Dominant language
JavaScript
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Description

What is the problem this feature will solve?

Currently, all Node.js fs module methods for writing data (such as fs.write, fs.createWriteStream) only accept Buffers or strings. There is no built-in support for writing data directly from Blob or web ReadableStream sources. This limits interoperability with web platform APIs and makes working with large files or streaming data @less seamless, especially when trying to move data efficiently from web contexts into the filesystem. Furthermore, Node.js provides fs.readableWebStream, but no corresponding fs.createWritableStream that would allow writing from web streams or Blobs directly.

What is the feature you are proposing to solve the problem?

Extend the Node.js fs module with the following capabilities:

  • Allow fs.write and related write methods to accept Blob objects as a valid input, making it possible to write the entirety of a Blob's contents to a file without manual conversion to Buffer.
  • Introduce fs.createWritableStream (web-compatible), which would be a direct counterpart to fs.readableWebStream and support writing from web ReadableStream sources to files.

This would improve ease-of-use when working with large binary/web platform data and make fs more aligned with modern web standards.

What alternatives have you considered?

Current workarounds involve manually converting Blobs and web streams into Buffers or converting web streams into node:streams

The only solution we have today is to use the fs.promise.writeFile(path, webStream) which luckily supports async iterable

with that in mind, the NodeJS document for...

... filehandle.appendFile(data[, options]) says it support:

data: <string> | <Buffer> | <TypedArray> | <DataView> | <AsyncIterable> | <Iterable> | <Stream>

it should also say

data: <string> | <Buffer> | <TypedArray> | <DataView> | <AsyncIterable> | <Iterable> | <Stream> | <ReadableStream>

or just

data: <string> | <Buffer> | <TypedArray> | <DataView> | <AsyncIterable> | <Iterable>

as stream's are async iterable

and i also do not thing it should say Buffer anymore... buffer is a typed array already... so it can just say:

data: <string> | <TypedArray> | <DataView> | <AsyncIterable> | <Iterable>

but this is just only off-topic


able to write Blob's would enable efficient native copy operations (like using openAsBlob(path) and writing directly to another file) without data passing through the JS runtime.

able to write blobs avoids extra conversions/allocations in JS, reduces memory footprint and GC pressure


the solution i'm looking for is something like:

blob = new Blob(['hello world'])
await filehandle.write(blob)

await blob.stream().pipeTo(fs.createWritableStream(dest))

// using fetch is becoming more popular, so a web writable stream is highly requested
await new Response('...').body.pipeTo(fs.createWritableStream(dest))

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Read the existing fs.write, fs.promises.writeFile, fs.readableWebStream, and filehandle.appendFile behavior first, then compare it with the Blob and web ReadableStream cases in the issue. Done means the supported scope is agreed and the requested write APIs handle the stated Blob and web-stream use cases.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript, nodejs
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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