npm Download Charts Screensaver
The npm Download Charts screensaver ranks the most-downloaded JavaScript packages on npm on a live board, drawn key-less from the npm registry's public download-stats API. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
Live preview
Press ESC to leave fullscreen. Settings are saved in your browser only.
How the npm Download Charts screensaver works
The saver fetches real weekly download counts for major npm packages from the registry's public API, with no key required.
Packages rank top to bottom by real download volume, with each bar sized to scale.
The board eases smoothly if the ranking shifts on refresh.
Readings refresh on a schedule to track real ecosystem activity.
The npm registry and what its counts measure
npm is the package manager and public registry for JavaScript. Developers publish reusable libraries there, and projects pull them in through a package.json file. The registry exposes a download-counts API with point totals and per-day ranges; its last-week period means the last 7 available days, and the underlying logs are processed once a day shortly after UTC midnight.
npm has explained that its counts are a raw tally of HTTP 200 responses that served a package tarball, not a count of unique users. Automated build servers, mirrors and bots that download packages all contribute, while installs served from a local cache are not counted. A new release also causes a burst of downloads as mirrors copy it. That is why small utility libraries can outrank famous frameworks: they are pulled in as dependencies of many other packages.
The counts are best read as a directional indicator of popularity rather than an absolute figure or a number of users. They do not tell you how many applications use a package in production, nor whether the code is maintained, secure or well designed.
A worked example
You'll see foundational packages — frameworks, build tools, utility libraries — trading the top spots, each bar reflecting real weekly download counts from the npm registry itself.
Settings & tips
- Accent recolours the bars.
- This tracks a curated set of major packages, not the entire registry.
- Download counts include automated installs, not just individual developers.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a key needed?
- No — the npm registry's public download-stats API is free and key-less.
- How is this different from GitHub Trending?
- GitHub Trending ranks repositories by star velocity; this ranks npm packages by real download volume — a different ecosystem and metric.
- Does a high download count mean high quality?
- Not necessarily — it reflects real usage volume, not a quality judgment.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
- Why do tiny utility packages rank so high?
- Large packages depend on them. Installing a framework fetches its dependencies too, and each fetched tarball is counted as a download.
- Do automated installs count?
- Yes. npm says build servers, mirrors and bots all contribute to the tally, though installs served from a local cache are not counted. Download counts therefore overstate the number of distinct developers.