eventClasses

Prefer EventTarget over EventEmitter for cross-platform compatibility.

✅ This rule is included in the node logical preset.

While EventEmitter is only available in Node.js, EventTarget is available in browsers, Deno, and modern Node.js (v14.5+). Using EventTarget makes code more cross-platform friendly and can reduce bundle size in built packages.

Examples

❌ Incorrect

import { EventEmitter } from "events";

class MyEmitter extends EventEmitter {}

const emitter = new EventEmitter();

✅ Correct

class MyTarget extends EventTarget {}

const target = new EventTarget();

Options

This rule is not configurable.

When Not To Use It

If your code exclusively targets Node.js environments and you specifically need EventEmitter’s API features that are not available in EventTarget (for example, prependListener, once returning a cleanup function, or error events with special handling), you might choose not to enable this rule.

Further Reading

• MDN: EventTarget
• Node.js: EventTarget and Event API
• Node.js: Differences between EventEmitter and EventTarget

Equivalents in Other Linters

• ESLint: unicorn/prefer-event-target
• Oxlint: unicorn/prefer-event-target