# Using Pyodide
Pyodide may be used in a web browser or a backend JavaScript environment.
## Web browsers
To use Pyodide in a web page you need to load `pyodide.js` and initialize
Pyodide with {js:func}`~globalThis.loadPyodide`.
```html-pyodide
```
See the {ref}`quickstart` for a walk-through tutorial as well as
{ref}`loading_packages` and {ref}`type-translations` for a more in depth
discussion about existing capabilities.
You can also use the [Pyodide NPM
package](https://www.npmjs.com/package/pyodide) to integrate Pyodide into your
application.
```{note}
To avoid confusion, note that:
- `cdn.jsdelivr.net/pyodide/` distributes Python packages built with Pyodide as well as `pyodide.js`
- `cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/pyodide@0.19.0/` is a mirror of the Pyodide NPM package, which includes none of the WASM files
```
### Supported browsers
Webassembly support in browsers is evolving very rapidly,
and we recommend using the latest browsers whenever possible
to take full advantage of Pyodide and its webassembly features.
If you are using an older browser, some features may not work properly.
Currently, Pyodide is being tested against the following browser versions,
so we recommend using a browser version at least equal to or higher than these.
| Browser | Version | Release date |
| ------- | ------- | ------------- |
| Firefox | 112 | 11 April 2023 |
| Chrome | 112 | 29 March 2023 |
| Safari | 16.4 | 27 March 2023 |
## Web Workers
By default, WebAssembly runs in the main browser thread, and it can make UI
non-responsive for long-running computations.
To avoid this situation, one solution is to run {ref}`Pyodide in a WebWorker `.
It's also possible to run {ref}`Pyodide in a Service Worker `.
If you're not sure whether you need web workers or service workers, here's an [overview and comparison of the two](https://web.dev/workers-overview/).
## Node.js
```{warning}
Starting with Pyodide 0.25.0, Node.js < 18 is no longer officially supported.
Older versions of Node.js might still work, but they are not tested or guaranteed to work.
```
```{note}
The following instructions have been tested with Node.js 18.5.0. To use
Pyodide with older versions of Node, you might need to use additional command line
arguments, see below.
```
It is now possible to install the
[Pyodide npm package](https://www.npmjs.com/package/pyodide) in Node.js. To
follow these instructions you need at least Pyodide 0.21.0.
You can explicitly ask npm to use
the alpha version:
```
$ npm install "pyodide@>=0.21.0-alpha.2"
```
Once installed, you can run the following simple script:
```js
// hello_python.js
const { loadPyodide } = require("pyodide");
async function hello_python() {
let pyodide = await loadPyodide();
return pyodide.runPythonAsync("1+1");
}
hello_python().then((result) => {
console.log("Python says that 1+1 =", result);
});
```
```
$ node hello_python.js
Python says that 1+1= 2
```
Or you can use the REPL. To start the Node.js REPL with support for top level
await, use `node --experimental-repl-await`:
```
$ node --experimental-repl-await
Welcome to Node.js v18.5.0.
Type ".help" for more information.
> const { loadPyodide } = require("pyodide");
undefined
> let pyodide = await loadPyodide();
undefined
> await pyodide.runPythonAsync("1+1");
2
```
```{eval-rst}
.. toctree::
:hidden:
loading-custom-python-code.md
file-system.md
accessing-files.md
webworker.md
service-worker.md
working-with-bundlers.md
```