unpkg.com Reviews

unpkg is a fast, global content delivery network for everything on npm. It’s a service that allows you to quickly and easily load any file from any package using a URL. It’s particularly useful for front-end web development, where you might want to include specific files from npm packages in your web pages.

Here are some key features and aspects of unpkg:

1. **URL Structure:** You can use a URL like `https://unpkg.com/package@version/file` to load a specific file from a package at a specific version. For example, `https://unpkg.com/react@16.7.0/umd/react.production.min.js` would load the React library at version 16.7.0.

2. **Semver Ranges and Tags:** Instead of specifying a fixed version, you can use semver ranges or tags in the URL. For example, `https://unpkg.com/react@^16/umd/react.production.min.js` would load the latest version of React in the 16.x.x range.

3. **Bare URLs:** If you omit the file path in the URL, unpkg will serve the file specified by the `unpkg` field in the package.json of the package, or it will fall back to the `main` file.

4. **File Listings:** Appending a `/` at the end of a URL will show a listing of all the files in the package.

5. **Caching:** The CDN caches files based on their permanent URL, which includes the npm package version. This allows for efficient and reliable caching of package files.

6. **Open Source:** unpkg is an open-source project maintained by Michael Jackson. It’s not affiliated with or supported by npm, Inc.

7. **Cloudflare and Fly.io:** The unpkg CDN is powered by Cloudflare, a major cloud network platform, and the origin server runs on auto-scaling infrastructure provided by Fly.io.

8. **Usage for Package Authors:** For npm package authors, unpkg can relieve the burden of publishing code to a CDN in addition to the npm registry. Including the UMD build in the npm package allows it to be served through unpkg.

Overall, unpkg is a valuable tool for web developers, particularly those working with npm packages in front-end development. It simplifies the process of including specific files from npm packages in web pages and provides efficient and reliable content delivery through its CDN.”

the reasons behind this review :
Fast, global content delivery network for npm packages, Allows loading of specific files from npm packages using URLs, Supports semver ranges and tags in URLs, Can serve files specified in package.json or fall back to main, Provides file listings for packages, Efficient and reliable caching of package files, Open-source project maintained by Michael Jackson, Not affiliated with or supported by npm, Inc., Powered by Cloudflare and Fly.io for robust infrastructure, Relieves burden for npm package authors by serving UMD builds.