Consider trying nub (all-in-one Node toolkit)

[connorads]

What

nub — single Rust binary that's an all-in-one Node frontend: TS/JSX file runner, script runner (nub run), bin runner (nubx, npx replacement), package manager, and Node version manager. Doesn't replace Node — transpiles + polyfills and execs your pinned node. Package manager is the embedded aube engine by jdx (same aube I already use as my mise npm backend).

• Blog: https://nubjs.com/blog/introducing-nub
• Repo: https://github.com/nubjs/nub

Why not yet (revisit, don't adopt)

• Brand new + fast churn. First publish 0.0.1 2026-05-27; 58 versions in ~26 days, several/day.
• Quarantine lag. My 4-day gate pins to whatever's ≥4d old (e.g. 0.1.1) — ~9 releases behind latest and permanently lagging during the period it's least stable.
• Install paths fight my controls: curl | bash, or npm i -g --ignore-scripts=false (disables my global ignore-scripts=true). No mise registry entry yet, so quarantine machinery doesn't apply cleanly.
• Config sovereignty: nub bundles its own aube config (24h aging) rather than my tuned ~/.config/aube/config.toml (4d, trustPolicy, advisoryBloomCheck, lowDownloadThreshold). Adopting it = ceding policy I control.
• Overlap: duplicates mise (Node versions) + aube/pnpm/bun (package mgmt), both already hardened.

Revisit when

• mise registry entry exists (so mise use honours quarantine)
• version cadence settles + clears my 4d gate without lagging badly
• confirmed whether embedded aube reads my ~/.config/aube/config.toml or ships weaker defaults
• weekly downloads clear lowDownloadThreshold = 1000

Could try ephemerally via nubx in a throwaway worktree without a global install in the meantime.