Merge branch 'gh-pages' of https://github.com/expressjs/expressjs.com into gh-pages

Author: achaljhawar

_posts/2025-05-16-express-cleanup-legacy-packages.md

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+---
+title: "Spring Cleaning in Express.js: Deprecations and the Path Ahead"
+tags: news
+author: Express Technical Committee
+description: As part of a broader effort to modernize and streamline Express.js, we’ve deprecated several outdated packages including csurf, connect-multiparty, and path-match. Learn why we made these changes and what it means for the future of the framework.
+---
+
+As Express.js continues to power web applications across the world, it's important that we maintain a clean, reliable, and modern codebase. In that spirit, we've done a bit of spring cleaning.
+
+Over the past few weeks, we've evaluated legacy packages within the Express.js ecosystem — some of which have become outdated, unmaintained, or misaligned with modern best practices. As a result, we’ve officially deprecated several of them.
+
+## 🚨 Packages Deprecated
+
+Here are the key packages we’ve deprecated:
+
+- [`csurf`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/csurf): A CSRF middleware that’s long been difficult to maintain and is better handled today through frameworks or custom implementations that align with your architecture.
+- [`connect-multiparty`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/connect-multiparty): A multipart form-data parser that relies on deprecated libraries and hasn’t aged well.
+- [`path-match`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/path-match): A route-matching utility that has been superseded by more modern and maintained alternatives.
+
+Each of these packages was originally created to solve real problems—but time has moved on, and the ecosystem has evolved.
+
+## 🤔 Why This Matters
+
+Maintaining deprecated or inactive dependencies introduces technical debt and security risk. By formally deprecating these packages, we:
+
+- Encourage developers to adopt better-maintained and more secure solutions.
+- Reduce confusion around which tools are actively supported by Express.
+- Focus our efforts on modernizing the core and surrounding ecosystem.
+
+## 🗂️ What You Should Do
+
+If your application depends on any of these packages, now is a great time to look for alternatives. For instance:
+
+- Consider finding a modern CSRF protection strategy on [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/search?q=csurf) that aligns with your specific needs.
+- Use up-to-date multipart parsers like [`multer`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/multer).
+- Replace path-match logic with standard [`path-to-regexp`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/path-to-regexp).
+
+## 📘 What's Next
+
+We're not stopping here. This cleanup is part of a broader effort to streamline Express.js, prepare for the future, and clarify what is and isn’t officially supported.
+
+👉 A full discussion of these changes can be found [expressjs/discussions#134](https://github.com/expressjs/discussions/issues/134).  
+
+📢 Stay tuned—we'll continue to post updates and insights as we modernize the Express ecosystem.
+
+💚Thanks to the community for your continued trust and support.