Node.js 26 becomes LTS as 'Lithium', supported until the end of April 2029
Serguey Asael Shinder1 min readNode.js 26.13.0, published on 28 October, moves the 26.x line into Long Term Support under the codename 'Lithium'. According to the release notes, the line will receive updates until the end of April 2029.
The release itself carries no functional changes. Apart from metadata such as the process.release object, which now reports the release as LTS, it is identical to Node.js 26.12.1.
The notes carry one upgrade warning for anyone moving from an earlier LTS line such as Node.js 24 or 22: since Node.js 25, the official Linux binaries are linked against libatomic, which may need to be installed separately depending on the distribution. On the same day the project also shipped Node.js 24.22.2 for the previous LTS line.
What it means
For most teams this is the signal that 26.x is now the line to plan production upgrades on, with a support window of roughly two and a half years. The libatomic note is the practical part: minimal container images and slim distributions often do not include it, so an upgrade that works on a developer machine can fail at start-up in production. Add the package to base images before switching.