Request for npm 12 (re-)submission to Node.js `main` branch

Background

npm@12.0.0, released on 2026-07-08, introduced many breaking changes.

https://github.com/nodejs/Release/issues/1161#issuecomment-5280655481 notes:

The Release WG has decided not to land npm 12 on Node.js 26, 24 or 22.

A previous PR https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/64882 attempted to submit npm@12.0.2, however it came into conflict with https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/64883 that landed npm@11.19.0 in the Node.js main branch. The npm@12.0.2 PR https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/64882 was closed without any further follow-up.

The Node.js repo documentation describes that the .github/workflows/create-node-pr.yml workflow is used to create a PR to submit npm to Node.js.

A previous version of this request was submitted as https://github.com/nodejs/Release/issues/1183 to the Node.js Releasers team who pointed to the need for action by the npm team.

Request

This is a request to re-submit npm 12 to the main branch of Node.js so that it can be included in the Node.js 27 Alpha phase from 2026-10-28 to 2027-04-22.

The next opportunity to bundle npm 12 is the future Node.js 27. To be included in Node.js 27, npm 12 would need to be submitted and landed before the cutoff date for the release of Node.js 27.0.0.

Node.js 27 Alpha begins on 2026-10-28. The Node.js 27.0.0 release is planned for 2027-04-22. The cutoff date for SEMVER-MAJOR changes is one month prior, which would be 2027-03-21.

Rationale

Maintainers of packages published to the npm registry and private project maintainers need to be given an early and simple opportunity of testing against npm 12 in CI during the Node.js 27 Alpha phase. Although it is possible today to update workflows to use npm 12, in general, users rely on the version of npm bundled in Node.js without taking any steps to install any different npm version (with npm install -g npm@latest for instance).

It's expected that a significant number of projects will require changes to continue to work with npm 12.

Additional exposure of npm 12 to more packages and projects may also lead to discovery of additional bugs in npm 12 with the opportunity to fix these before Node.js 27 exits its Alpha phase.

Related

https://github.com/npm/cli/issues/9827

Start by reading .github/workflows/create-node-pr.yml and the prior npm@12.0.2 submission in nodejs/node#64882, along with the related npm/cli issue #9827. Determine how to re-submit npm 12 without repeating the conflict with npm@11.19.0. Done means a submission is landed on Node.js main before the stated Node.js 27 cutoff.