Before Your Code Runs: Node.js

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This post is part of the Before Your Code Runs series, cataloguing the hidden, implicit code execution surfaces in programming language runtimes and toolchains.

Node.js and npm sit underneath a huge chunk of the modern web. It’s the runtime that made JavaScript a “real” backend language, and npm is the largest package registry in the world. That’s a lot of trust in a lot of code.

Here’s roughly what happens when Node starts:

Before Your Code Runs: Python

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This post is part of the Before Your Code Runs series, cataloguing the hidden, implicit code execution surfaces in programming language runtimes and toolchains.

Python is probably the most beloved language in the world right now. It’s everywhere: data science, web backends, DevOps glue, AI/ML pipelines, you name it. And because it’s everywhere, attackers love it too. The thing is, most Python developers think execution starts when you type python app.py. It doesn’t. Not even close.

Before Your Code Runs on krash.dev

Before Your Code Runs: Node.js

Before Your Code Runs: Python