unicorn/prefer-event-target

EventEmitter comes from node:events, so code that uses it needs a polyfill to run in a browser. EventTarget is a global in browsers, Bun, Node.js and Deno. It doesn't need an import and adds nothing to a bundle.

The rule goes by the name, so it reports new EventEmitter() and extends EventEmitter. An EventEmitter that comes from eventemitter3 or @angular/core isn't reported.

Configure

Off by default. To turn it on:

[lint.rules]
"unicorn/prefer-event-target" = "error" # or "warn"

Examples

Reported:

import { EventEmitter } from "node:events";

class Download extends EventEmitter {}

const bus = new EventEmitter();

Not reported:

class Download extends EventTarget {}

const bus = new EventTarget();
bus.addEventListener("done", () => console.log("done"));
bus.dispatchEvent(new Event("done"));

import { EventEmitter } from "eventemitter3";

const bus = new EventEmitter();

When not to use it

The two aren't drop-in replacements. emit() passes any arguments to the listeners, and dispatchEvent() passes one Event object. For code that only runs in Bun or Node.js, EventEmitter is fine.