Demand
Monthly npm Downloads of Official AI SDKs
Monthly npm downloads of official OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google JavaScript/TypeScript SDKs. The trend is a proxy for AI developer-tool adoption, but counts include automated and dependency-driven downloads and do not measure unique developers, installations, API usage, or market share.
Monthly npm Downloads of Official AI SDKs
- OpenAI (openai)
- Anthropic (@anthropic-ai/sdk)
- Google Gen AI (@google/genai)
OpenAI (openai) recorded 148,136,807 downloads npm downloads in 2026-08-01, compared with 26,508,088 downloads in the prior complete month.
Methodology
The source is npm's official public Downloads API. For each package, the updater requests the range endpoint in inclusive chunks of no more than 365 days, below npm's documented 18-month limit for non-bulk package queries. It validates every returned calendar day and non-negative integer count, then sums the daily counts by UTC calendar month. The committed history ends in July 2026 because August 2026 was incomplete on the 2026-08-27 cutoff date.
The selected current official packages are openai for OpenAI, @anthropic-ai/sdk for Anthropic, and @google/genai for Google Gen AI. Official vendor documentation identifies each package as the supported JavaScript or TypeScript SDK. Values are registry download events exactly as returned by npm; there is no interpolation, seasonality adjustment, estimate, or conversion to users.
Package history is bounded by official status or first publication. OpenAI-authored version 3.2.0 was published under the openai identifier on 2023-03-01. Because npm exposes only daily counts and cannot separate downloads before and after that intraday handoff, the chart begins OpenAI counting on 2023-03-02, the first full UTC day under official status. Earlier downloads are excluded because that identifier previously belonged to an unofficial library; its original project was renamed gpt-x when OpenAI released the official SDK. Anthropic's package has retained the @anthropic-ai/sdk name since its first publication on 2023-01-31.
Google's current @google/genai package was first published on 2025-03-11. Google describes @google/generative-ai as a separate legacy SDK and directs developers to migrate to @google/genai; this is a replacement with a different implementation and overlapping availability, not a transparent package rename. The two package counts are therefore not spliced or summed. This preserves a consistent package-level series but means Google's line starts in March 2025 and does not represent downloads of its earlier SDK.
Each timestamp is the first day of the represented UTC month. The first Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google observations are launch or transition months and therefore cover only the eligible portion of those months: January 31 for Anthropic, March 2-31 for OpenAI, and March 11-31 for Google. Row source URLs use npm's point endpoint for the exact included date range, allowing each locally aggregated monthly total to be checked directly.
Frequently asked questions
What does this chart measure?
It sums daily npm registry download events into UTC calendar months for the official openai, @anthropic-ai/sdk, and @google/genai packages. Each line follows one exact package name; it is not a count of installations, users, projects, or API calls.
Why are official AI SDK downloads relevant?
Official SDKs are a common route for JavaScript and TypeScript developers to integrate model APIs. Sustained changes in package downloads can indicate shifting developer attention and tooling activity, although the counts cannot establish how many developers adopted a provider or used its API.
How should changes in the lines be interpreted?
The chart is best used to follow the direction and scale of activity around each exact package over time. Cross-package levels require caution because package age, release cadence, dependency behavior, automation, caching, mirrors, and installation patterns differ.
How are the monthly figures calculated and sourced?
The updater retrieves daily counts from npm's official public Downloads API in validated date-range chunks and sums them by UTC month. It applies no interpolation, seasonal adjustment, user conversion, or estimate, and checks each latest monthly sum against npm's point endpoint.
Do npm download counts equal the number of developers using each SDK?
No. npm download events include CI jobs, automated dependency installation, mirrors, repeated installs, and downloads triggered by other packages. Caches may also reduce registry requests. The API does not identify unique developers, projects, or human-originated downloads, so the series is not market share.
Why does the OpenAI series begin in March 2023 rather than January 2023?
The openai identifier existed earlier, but its pre-March 2023 releases were an unofficial project. OpenAI-authored version 3.2.0 was published during March 1, 2023, and the original unofficial project was renamed gpt-x. The count begins March 2, the first full UTC day after the handoff, so the daily API cannot mix pre-handoff downloads into the official series.
Why does the Google series start in March 2025?
@google/genai was first published on March 11, 2025. Google's earlier @google/generative-ai library is now legacy, but it is a separate package rather than the same package under a new name. Its downloads are not combined with the current SDK.
Why is August 2026 not included?
The chart uses complete UTC calendar months. On the August 27, 2026 cutoff date, August was still in progress, so July 2026 is the latest complete period.