1# About this documentation 2 3<!--introduced_in=v0.10.0--> 4<!-- type=misc --> 5 6Welcome to the official API reference documentation for Node.js! 7 8Node.js is a JavaScript runtime built on the [V8 JavaScript engine][]. 9 10## Contributing 11 12Report errors in this documentation in [the issue tracker][]. See 13[the contributing guide][] for directions on how to submit pull requests. 14 15## Stability index 16 17<!--type=misc--> 18 19Throughout the documentation are indications of a section's stability. Some APIs 20are so proven and so relied upon that they are unlikely to ever change at all. 21Others are brand new and experimental, or known to be hazardous. 22 23The stability indices are as follows: 24 25> Stability: 0 - Deprecated. The feature may emit warnings. Backward 26> compatibility is not guaranteed. 27 28<!-- separator --> 29 30> Stability: 1 - Experimental. The feature is not subject to 31> [Semantic Versioning][] rules. Non-backward compatible changes or removal may 32> occur in any future release. Use of the feature is not recommended in 33> production environments. 34 35<!-- separator --> 36 37> Stability: 2 - Stable. Compatibility with the npm ecosystem is a high 38> priority. 39 40Use caution when making use of Experimental features, particularly within 41modules. Users may not be aware that experimental features are being used. 42Bugs or behavior changes may surprise users when Experimental API 43modifications occur. To avoid surprises, use of an Experimental feature may need 44a command-line flag. Experimental features may also emit a [warning][]. 45 46## JSON output 47<!-- YAML 48added: v0.6.12 49--> 50 51Every `.html` document has a corresponding `.json` document. This is for IDEs 52and other utilities that consume the documentation. 53 54## System calls and man pages 55 56Node.js functions which wrap a system call will document that. The docs link 57to the corresponding man pages which describe how the system call works. 58 59Most Unix system calls have Windows analogues. Still, behavior differences may 60be unavoidable. 61 62[Semantic Versioning]: https://semver.org/ 63[the contributing guide]: https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md 64[the issue tracker]: https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/new 65[V8 JavaScript engine]: https://v8.dev/ 66[warning]: process.html#process_event_warning 67