Top open-source packages with the most dependent projects on GitHub
Tags: github, opensource, javascript, webdev
Published: 2019-11-10 16:39:39

GitHub in its annual State of the Octoverse for 2019 announced the top open-source packages with the most dependent projects.

## Lodash
Lodash is a JavaScript utility library and a very popular NPM package.

It provides utility functions for common programming tasks that make JavaScript easier by taking the hassle out of working with arrays, numbers, objects, strings, dates, etc.

{% github https://github.com/lodash/lodash %}

It has a ton of helper functions which help you to be more productive and save a lot of time. 

The library is very light (~24kB gzipped), efficient, popular and loved (more than 42K stars on Github).

It is used by more than **5.4m** repositories on Github.

## Express
Express is a minimal and flexible Node.js web application framework based on MVC architecture that provides a robust set of features for web and mobile applications.

MongoDB = database
Express.js = back-end web framework
Angular = front-end framework
Node.js = back-end platform / web framework

{% github https://github.com/expressjs/express %}

Express is inspired by the popular Ruby framework, Sinatra. It provides a number of robust features for building single and multi-page web applications.

It has more than 46K stars on Github.

It is used by more than **5.2m** repositories on Github.

## Vision Media Debug
A JavaScript debugging utility after Node.js core's debugging technique. Works in Node.js and web browsers.

The tool aims at both libraries and applications. Besides Node.js, Debug is also suitable for working in browsers. 

{% github https://github.com/visionmedia/debug %}

It has more than 8K stars on Github.

It is used by more than **5.3m** repositories on Github.

## Inherits
Easy simple tiny inheritance in JavaScript.

This package exports standard inherits from node.js `util` module in a node environment. It also provides alternative browser-friendly implementation through browser field.

{% github https://github.com/isaacs/inherits %}

It is used by more than **5.1m** repositories on Github.

## [Zeit MS](https://github.com/zeit/ms)
This package is used to easily convert various time formats to milliseconds.

Works both in Node.js and in the browser

{% github https://github.com/zeit/ms %}

It is used by more than **5m** repositories on Github.

## Safe Buffer

The goal of this package is to provide a safe replacement for the node.js `Buffer`.

{% github https://github.com/feross/safe-buffer %}

## Node semver

The semantic version parser for Node used by `npm`

{% github https://github.com/npm/node-semver %}

It is used by more than **4.8m** repositories on Github.

## Mime Db

A database of all mime types. It consists of only a single, public JSON file which does not include any logic.

It aggregates data from the following sources:
- http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/media-types.xhtml
- http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/httpd/httpd/trunk/docs/conf/mime.types
- http://hg.nginx.org/nginx/raw-file/default/conf/mime.types

{% github https://github.com/jshttp/mime-db %}

It is used by more than **4.8m** repositories on Github.

## QS

A query string parsing and stringifying library with nesting support.

{% github https://github.com/ljharb/qs %}

It is used by more than **4.7m** repositories on Github.

Image Credit: 
[GitHub Blog](https://github.blog/2019-11-06-the-state-of-the-octoverse-2019/)

{% user cooldashing24 %}