Missing readme on npmjs registry

[mbtools]

The readme is empty when getting package.json from the NPM registry (2025-12-09).

Does anyone know why this is the case?

https://registry.npmjs.com/express

--

PS: The readme is present for other popular packages like lodah:

https://registry.npmjs.com/lodash

It's not size related since there are package with bigger readmes than express (for example, https://registry.npmjs.com/verdaccio)

[Errr0rr404]

The npm registry document at https://registry.npmjs.com/express only embeds a README when the published tarball included one that npm could extract at publish time (and when the package metadata was refreshed).

Common reasons readme is empty/undefined on the registry JSON even though GitHub has a README:

1. Publish packaging — .npmignore / files in package.json omitted README.md for that release.
2. Metadata lag / partial responses — some CDN views or older packuments omit heavy fields; check the specific version: https://registry.npmjs.com/express/4.21.2 (or whatever latest is).
3. Not the same as the website — npmjs.com may render README from a different path than the raw packument field you are printing.

Quick checks:

npm view express readme | head
npm pack express --dry-run   # see if README would be included from a local clone

If npm view express readme is empty for latest but the GitHub README exists, it is almost certainly a publish contents / packument issue for that version, not something Express serves dynamically. Opening an issue on expressjs/express with the exact version number is the right next step if latest is affected.