csv-parser
Streaming CSV parser for Node.js with a rich feature set: async iterators, callbacks, pipe-friendly streams, and synchronous mode. Part of the node-csv suite (csv-parse, csv-generate, csv-transform, csv-stringify). Handles quoted fields, multiline records, custom delimiters, and encoding issues robustly.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
Local library with no network calls. Main concern is CSV injection if output is used in spreadsheet formulas — sanitize output for downstream spreadsheet use.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
You need robust, streaming CSV parsing in Node.js with fine-grained control over delimiters, quoting, encoding, and error handling.
Avoid When
You need browser-side parsing or Excel format support — use PapaParse for browser or exceljs for spreadsheets.
Use Cases
- • Parse large CSV files as Node.js streams without loading the full file into memory for agent ETL pipelines
- • Convert CSV uploads to JSON objects for downstream processing in data ingestion agents
- • Stream CSV records through async iterators for row-by-row processing in agent pipelines
- • Handle malformed or irregular CSV data with configurable relaxed parsing modes
- • Parse TSV, PSV, and other delimiter-separated files with custom delimiter configuration
Not For
- • Browser-side CSV parsing — PapaParse is better for browser environments with web worker support
- • Excel/XLSX file parsing — use xlsx or exceljs for spreadsheet format support
- • Extremely high-performance batch CSV ingestion — consider DuckDB or Apache Arrow for analytics-scale parsing
Interface
Authentication
Local library — no authentication required.
Pricing
MIT license. Part of the node-csv monorepo maintained by Adaltas.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ Streaming mode processes records as they arrive — agents must handle backpressure and use async iterators or pipe correctly to avoid memory buildup
- ⚠ columns: true option maps headers automatically but header row must exist — always verify CSV structure before enabling
- ⚠ BOM (byte order mark) in UTF-8 files causes spurious first-field values — use bom: true option to strip automatically
- ⚠ relax_quotes and relax_column_count options are needed for real-world CSV that violates strict RFC 4180 — enable for user-generated data
- ⚠ Synchronous parse() is convenient but loads entire file into memory — always use streaming API for files > 50MB
- ⚠ csv-parse v5+ changed to ES module syntax — agents using CommonJS require() need to use dynamic import() or pin to v4
Alternatives
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Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-06.