Show HN: Almostnode – Run Node.js, Next.js, and Express in the Browser(almostnode.dev)
almostnode.dev
Show HN: Almostnode – Run Node.js, Next.js, and Express in the Browser
https://almostnode.dev/
2 comments
wow this is nice, its have a potential to be the open source version of webcontainers
It includes: - A virtual filesystem with POSIX-compatible API - 40+ shimmed Node.js modules (fs, path, http, crypto, stream, etc.) - A package manager that installs real npm packages client-side - Built-in Next.js (App Router) and Vite dev servers with HMR - Service worker bridge that makes virtual servers accessible via real URLs
The main use cases are interactive code playgrounds, live documentation, and AI coding agents that need to execute code client-side without provisioning a sandbox server.
It's not a WebContainers replacement, no real TCP/IP or native modules. Think of it as the lightweight alternative when you just need a demo or playground running from a static HTML page.
It's experimental and definitely has bugs. Would love feedback, especially on the module shims and framework support.
GitHub: https://github.com/macaly/almostnode