Polka Web Server

Polka is a minimalist, high-performance web server framework for Node.js, designed to be fast and provide an Express.js-like API with a significantly smaller footprint. While the current stable version is 0.5.2, active development is happening on the `1.0.0-next` series, which frequently releases patch and minor versions, indicating a rapid release cadence for the upcoming major version. Key differentiators include its small core, focus on raw speed, and modular design through companion packages like `@polka/compression`. It provides essential routing and middleware capabilities, making it suitable for building lightweight APIs and web services where performance is critical. The `1.0.0-next` series also introduces explicit support for ESM, TypeScript (`node16`/`nodenext`), and even Deno runtimes, broadening its applicability beyond traditional Node.js CommonJS environments.