node-fetch brings the Fetch API, a modern standard for making web requests in browsers, to Node.js. It offers a lightweight and familiar interface for fetching resources over HTTP/HTTPS. Popular for its promise-based approach, node-fetch simplifies asynchronous operations compared to older Node.js HTTP modules. It supports features like request and response manipulation, headers, and stream handling and is widely adopted in server-side JavaScript environments for building APIs and interacting with external web services.