[Divergence] Service publishes as an npm package for environments without Docker (powersync-service #808)

[benitav]

What's changing: The PowerSync Service is now also published as an npm package (@powersync/service-image) alongside the existing Docker image, so it can run via npx powersync-service start -c config.yaml (requires Node.js 24+) on systems where running the Docker image isn't an option, such as Windows Server.

High priority — existing docs are now inaccurate or incomplete
None identified. The existing Docker instructions remain correct; this adds an alternative install path.

For reviewer consideration — worth documenting

• Self-Hosting (https://docs.powersync.com/intro/self-hosting): the page states the Service "can be self-hosted using Docker" and links only to the Docker Hub image. It doesn't mention the new npm package install path for environments where Docker isn't viable.

Source PR: powersync-ja/powersync-service#808 — merged 2026-09-16.

Filed automatically by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5). A human must verify the scope, prepare the docs PR, and publish it only once this update has been released.

[rkistner]

I consider this as essentially unsupported. It can be used, but at this stage we provide no guarantees. Specifically:

1. We only test on a single NodeJS version, and don't document supported NodeJS version ranges. The version to use can change in any release. This is not an issue in Docker where we bundle NodeJS, but it affects the NPM package.
2. We test and publish against specific dependencies in our pnpm lockfile, while the NPM install uses more broad version ranges, which can result in newer dependencies being used. This may break things in the npm install if there are breaking changes in dependencies.

At this stage we're happy for PRs to fix issues that come up, but we we're not actively working on making this a supported configuration from our side.

@benitav Given that, do you think it's better to leave as an undocumented feature, or specifically document these caveats?