#NodeToDenoChallenge

Take any Node project, run it with Deno, earn prizes.

What is this?

Starting Thursday, December 21st, 2023 and running until Thursday, January 4th, 2024, take any Node project, run it with Deno, screenshot and share results (success or failure) on Twitter with the hashtag #NodeToDenoChallenge or as an issue, and be eligible to win prizes.

How to participate

Yes, it’s holiday season and no one can be bothered to do anything, so we’re making participation as streamlined as possible:

1. Take any Node project. Doesn’t need to be an app or a server. Can be a
   script even.
2. If necessary, update import statements to
   ESM.
   This means replacing

const module = require("module");

with

import module from "module";

3. Add the below deno.json file, which enables
   various unstable Node/npm compatibility settings,
   to the root of your project.

{
  "unstable": [
    "bare-node-builtins",
    "byonm",
    "sloppy-imports",
    "unsafe-proto"
  ]
}

4. Run this command:

deno run -A $FILE

5. Take a screenshot of the output, regardless of success or failure.
6. Share it on Twitter or
   create a GitHub issue.
   (If you want to be eligible for the "largest Node project" category, then you
   must also include a link to the GitHub so we can verify lines of code.)

And that’s it! Have a cup of cocoa and cozy up by the fire.

What are all these unstable Node compatibility settings?

• --unstable-bare-node-builtins:
  supported as of 1.30, this flag allows you to
  import Node.js built-in modules
  without a node: specifier.
• --unstable-byonm:
  The "bring your own node_modules" feature, supported as of
  1.38, allows you to use Deno with the npm
  package manager of your choice.
• --unstable-sloppy-imports:
  supported as of 1.39, which loosens the
  requirements for how Deno imports modules (e.g. import statements don’t need
  file extensions, assumes index.js, etc). Note this is not recommended for
  general use.
  For more details, check out the PR.
• --unstable-unsafe-proto:
  also supported as of 1.39, this flag enables
  support for Object.prototype.__proto__, which many npm packages rely on to
  function properly. Again, this is not recommended for general use for security
  reasons.

For additional resources on Node/npm interoperability with Deno, check out these resources:

• Node.js ⇒ Deno cheatsheet
• Using Node and npm — Deno manual

Prizes

On January 4th, 10 randomly selected participants will win a $100 gift card to the Deno merch store.

Additionally, the submission that attempts to run Deno on the largest Node project by lines of code is guaranteed to win a $100 gift card. (Note that in order to be eligible for this prize, you must share a link to the GitHub project for us to verify lines of code.)

Finally, to encourage everyone to get the word out and share it with your circles, if we get more than 100 submissions, we’ll raise the gift card prize from $100 to $200.

We’ll keep track of submission numbers in our Discord.

Read more about the challenge in our blog post.