The inherits package in npm provides a simple and reliable way to implement inheritance in JavaScript. It avoids the complexities of ES6 classes, offering a lightweight solution for prototypal inheritance. Widely used and battle-tested across countless npm packages, inherits ensures compatibility and predictable behavior across different JavaScript environments, making it a foundational utility for extending constructors and sharing properties. Its small size and focused functionality have contributed to its widespread adoption.
The npm package "inherits" has sporadic releases. Initial release was in April 2011 (1.0.0). Version 2.0.0 came out in May 2013, followed by 2.0.1 in August 2013. Two versions, 1.0.1 and 1.0.2, were released in August 2015. Further releases include 2.0.3 in September 2016 and 2.0.4 in June 2019. No releases have occurred since June 2019.
Inherits package downloads show a general upward trend from March 2024 to August 2025, peaking in June and July 2025. The current month, September 2025, shows a significant drop, but is incomplete, so is unreliable to consider as a trend.
