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NPMX – a fast, modern browser for the NPM registry

npmx.dev

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Re: NPMX – a fast, modern browser for the NPM registry

#22

Post by blue_pants »

65 wrote: post #9
brycelarkin wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

npmjs search is very slow

I mean are we really arguing over milliseconds here? I have never in my life had the thought "NPM search is too slow, I need a faster solution" I have had the thought "NPM search sorted by downloads this week is giving me irrelevant packages" - but I'm not sure this tool solves that.

It can load for a couple of seconds (!) for me

Re: NPMX – a fast, modern browser for the NPM registry

#25

Post by adithyareddy »

Really fun / cool project!

I've always defaulted to using https://yarnpkg.com/ to search for packages cause the npmjs.com search is so slow, but while the yarnpkg.com search is super fast, actually clicking on a package and seeing the details page takes forever.

This is super fast for both search and the details page, and it's super keyboard friendly which makes it even faster to use in practice. Definitely going to become my go-to search now. Love it, thanks for building it!

Re: NPMX – a fast, modern browser for the NPM registry

#26

Post by tl2do »

The typeahead search speed is genuinely impressive. I was typing package names and the results were appearing before I'd finished the keystroke—that's the kind of responsiveness you usually only see with native applications.

As someone who spent a year obsessing over performance in a .NET MAUI app (IMAP processing, background execution, API latency), I know how hard it is to shave milliseconds off search. The npm registry is massive, and you're clearly doing something right on the indexing or caching side.

Are you using client-side filtering with a pre-built index? Server-side with some clever caching strategy? I'm genuinely curious about the architecture choices that got you to "uncannily fast" territory—especially compared to the official npmjs.com search.

Whatever you're doing under the hood, it shows. Performance is a feature.

Re: NPMX – a fast, modern browser for the NPM registry

#27

Post by xhcuvuvyc »

hdjrudni wrote: post #3

But why? npmjs.com is not slow and not something I need to interact with very often. And npmjs.com is still the authority when it comes to publishing packages, no? So I'd still have to use it.

Because they wanted to and Claude didn't tell them not to. Why even ask questions like this at this point.

Re: NPMX – a fast, modern browser for the NPM registry

#28

Post by ireadmevs »

nickradford wrote: post #15
hdjrudni wrote: post #3

But why? npmjs.com is not slow and not something I need to interact with very often. And npmjs.com is still the authority when it comes to publishing packages, no? So I'd still have to use it.

It is really annoying if you have a package that is relatively new to the platform, and you type in the exact package name, that package is not reliably the first result. Minor edge case, but infuriating if you want to check your own packages quickly (without needing to navigate menu > packages > YOUR_PACKAGE). Still agree with you though, who is npmx actually for?

Whenever I know the name of the package I want to see, I always type in the URL directly: npm.im/[package-name]

Re: NPMX – a fast, modern browser for the NPM registry

#30

Post by phildenhoff »

iamkonstantin wrote: post #19
isodev wrote: post #16

I don’t get it. What does it do? How can I trust it over simply visiting https://www.npmjs.com/ (which is perfectly fine to browse)? Edit: it wants me to connect to the “atmosphere” - is this the Bluesky App Store thing? I really don’t see how linking my socials to npm search makes sense.

The word “browser” in the title also tripped me to think about an actual browser

But it is a browser -- just not a web browser
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