Event Emitter in Node.js

From the Node.js Core Modules cheat sheet ยท Streams & Events ยท verified Jul 2026

Event Emitter

Create and handle custom events for async communication

javascript
const EventEmitter = require('events');

class MyEmitter extends EventEmitter {}
const emitter = new MyEmitter();

// Listen for event
emitter.on('event', (data) => {
  console.log('Event:', data);
});

// Emit event
emitter.emit('event', 'data');

// Once listener
emitter.once('close', () => {});
๐ŸŸข Essential - Core of Node.js event-driven architecture
๐Ÿ’ก Many Node.js objects extend EventEmitter
๐Ÿ“Œ removeListener() to prevent memory leaks
โš ๏ธ Default max 10 listeners (setMaxListeners to change)
โšก once() for one-time event handlers
๐Ÿ”— Related: events.EventEmitter is the base class

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