diff --git a/node/lib/binding.ts b/node/lib/binding.ts
index 275bf12ff..4327bb4bc 100644
--- a/node/lib/binding.ts
+++ b/node/lib/binding.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 import { join } from 'path'
+import * as url from 'url'
 
 /**
  * bindings are not typed yet.
  * if the available function names are required they can be found inside of `../src/module.c`
  */
-export const bindings: any = require('node-gyp-build')(join(__dirname, '../'))
+import build from 'node-gyp-build'
+export const bindings: any = build(
+  join(url.fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url)), '../')
+)
 
 export default bindings
diff --git a/node/lib/chat.ts b/node/lib/chat.ts
index 49a6b8f52..8559ffc64 100644
--- a/node/lib/chat.ts
+++ b/node/lib/chat.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 /* eslint-disable camelcase */
 
-import binding from './binding'
+import binding from './binding.js'
 import rawDebug from 'debug'
 const debug = rawDebug('deltachat:node:chat')
-import { C } from './constants'
-import { integerToHexColor } from './util'
-import { ChatJSON } from './types'
+import { C } from './constants.js'
+import { integerToHexColor } from './util.js'
+import { ChatJSON } from './types.js'
 
 interface NativeChat {}
 /**
diff --git a/node/lib/chatlist.ts b/node/lib/chatlist.ts
index 73233e006..c5574d532 100644
--- a/node/lib/chatlist.ts
+++ b/node/lib/chatlist.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 /* eslint-disable camelcase */
 
-import binding from './binding'
-import { Lot } from './lot'
-import { Chat } from './chat'
-const debug = require('debug')('deltachat:node:chatlist')
+import binding from './binding.js'
+import { Lot } from './lot.js'
+import { Chat } from './chat.js'
+import rawDebug from 'debug'
+const debug = rawDebug('deltachat:node:chatlist')
 
 interface NativeChatList {}
 /**
diff --git a/node/lib/contact.ts b/node/lib/contact.ts
index 41e3e270c..f670562bb 100644
--- a/node/lib/contact.ts
+++ b/node/lib/contact.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
-import { integerToHexColor } from './util'
+import { integerToHexColor } from './util.js'
 
 /* eslint-disable camelcase */
 
-import binding from './binding'
-const debug = require('debug')('deltachat:node:contact')
+import binding from './binding.js'
+import rawDebug from 'debug'
+const debug = rawDebug('deltachat:node:contact')
 
 interface NativeContact {}
 /**
diff --git a/node/lib/context.ts b/node/lib/context.ts
index b292e9e35..80c073fe8 100644
--- a/node/lib/context.ts
+++ b/node/lib/context.ts
@@ -1,17 +1,17 @@
 /* eslint-disable camelcase */
 
-import binding from './binding'
-import { C, EventId2EventName } from './constants'
-import { Chat } from './chat'
-import { ChatList } from './chatlist'
-import { Contact } from './contact'
-import { Message } from './message'
-import { Lot } from './lot'
-import { Locations } from './locations'
+import binding from './binding.js'
+import { C, EventId2EventName } from './constants.js'
+import { Chat } from './chat.js'
+import { ChatList } from './chatlist.js'
+import { Contact } from './contact.js'
+import { Message } from './message.js'
+import { Lot } from './lot.js'
+import { Locations } from './locations.js'
 import rawDebug from 'debug'
-import { AccountManager } from './deltachat'
+import { AccountManager } from './deltachat.js'
 import { join } from 'path'
-import { EventEmitter } from 'stream'
+import { EventEmitter } from 'events'
 const debug = rawDebug('deltachat:node:index')
 
 const noop = function () {}
diff --git a/node/lib/deltachat.ts b/node/lib/deltachat.ts
index 6080aacda..28b332973 100644
--- a/node/lib/deltachat.ts
+++ b/node/lib/deltachat.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 /* eslint-disable camelcase */
 
-import binding from './binding'
-import { EventId2EventName } from './constants'
+import binding from './binding.js'
+import { EventId2EventName } from './constants.js'
 import { EventEmitter } from 'events'
 import { existsSync } from 'fs'
 import rawDebug from 'debug'
 import { tmpdir } from 'os'
 import { join } from 'path'
-import { Context } from './context'
+import { Context } from './context.js'
 const debug = rawDebug('deltachat:node:index')
 
 const noop = function () {}
diff --git a/node/lib/index.ts b/node/lib/index.ts
index 6b179dbeb..660261172 100644
--- a/node/lib/index.ts
+++ b/node/lib/index.ts
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
-import { AccountManager } from './deltachat'
+import { AccountManager } from './deltachat.js'
 
 export default AccountManager
 
-export { Context } from './context'
-export { Chat } from './chat'
-export { ChatList } from './chatlist'
-export { C } from './constants'
-export { Contact } from './contact'
+export { Context } from './context.js'
+export { Chat } from './chat.js'
+export { ChatList } from './chatlist.js'
+export { C } from './constants.js'
+export { Contact } from './contact.js'
 export { AccountManager as DeltaChat }
-export { Locations } from './locations'
-export { Lot } from './lot'
+export { Locations } from './locations.js'
+export { Lot } from './lot.js'
 export {
   Message,
   MessageState,
   MessageViewType,
   MessageDownloadState,
-} from './message'
+} from './message.js'
 
-export * from './types'
+export * from './types.js'
diff --git a/node/lib/locations.ts b/node/lib/locations.ts
index 6e197a133..d593fe8bc 100644
--- a/node/lib/locations.ts
+++ b/node/lib/locations.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 /* eslint-disable camelcase */
 
-const binding = require('../binding')
-const debug = require('debug')('deltachat:node:locations')
+import binding from './binding.js'
+import rawDebug from 'debug'
+const debug = rawDebug('deltachat:node:locations')
 
 interface NativeLocations {}
 /**
diff --git a/node/lib/lot.ts b/node/lib/lot.ts
index 4da0bccab..a7f880464 100644
--- a/node/lib/lot.ts
+++ b/node/lib/lot.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 /* eslint-disable camelcase */
 
-const binding = require('../binding')
-const debug = require('debug')('deltachat:node:lot')
+import binding from './binding.js'
+import rawDebug from 'debug'
+const debug = rawDebug('deltachat:node:lot')
 
 interface NativeLot {}
 /**
diff --git a/node/lib/message.ts b/node/lib/message.ts
index 5b2ad67d9..65e2e61d1 100644
--- a/node/lib/message.ts
+++ b/node/lib/message.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 /* eslint-disable camelcase */
 
-import binding from './binding'
-import { C } from './constants'
-import { Lot } from './lot'
-import { Chat } from './chat'
-import { WebxdcInfo } from './context'
-const debug = require('debug')('deltachat:node:message')
+import binding from './binding.js'
+import { C } from './constants.js'
+import { Lot } from './lot.js'
+import { Chat } from './chat.js'
+import { WebxdcInfo } from './context.js'
+import rawDebug from 'debug'
+const debug = rawDebug('deltachat:node:message')
 
 export enum MessageDownloadState {
   Available = C.DC_DOWNLOAD_AVAILABLE,
diff --git a/node/lib/node-gyp-build.d.ts b/node/lib/node-gyp-build.d.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..901f97cd5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/node/lib/node-gyp-build.d.ts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+declare module 'node-gyp-build'
diff --git a/node/lib/types.ts b/node/lib/types.ts
index 6bb54d9f8..f09bdba21 100644
--- a/node/lib/types.ts
+++ b/node/lib/types.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { C } from './constants'
+import { C } from './constants.js'
 
 export type ChatTypes =
   | C.DC_CHAT_TYPE_GROUP
diff --git a/node/scripts/common.js b/node/scripts/common.js
index af085cb59..12876d5b9 100644
--- a/node/scripts/common.js
+++ b/node/scripts/common.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-const spawnSync = require('child_process').spawnSync
+import { spawnSync } from 'child_process'
 
 const verbose = isVerbose()
 
@@ -23,4 +23,4 @@ function isVerbose () {
   return loglevel === 'verbose' || process.env.CI === 'true'
 }
 
-module.exports = { spawn, log, isVerbose, verbose }
+export { spawn, log, isVerbose, verbose }
diff --git a/node/scripts/generate-constants.js b/node/scripts/generate-constants.js
index 7e821dc0a..260c60bd2 100755
--- a/node/scripts/generate-constants.js
+++ b/node/scripts/generate-constants.js
@@ -1,14 +1,16 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
-const fs = require('fs')
-const path = require('path')
+import fs from 'fs'
+import path from 'path'
+import * as url from 'url'
 
 const data = []
-const header = path.resolve(__dirname, '../../deltachat-ffi/deltachat.h')
+const header = path.resolve(url.fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url)), '../../deltachat-ffi/deltachat.h')
 
 console.log('Generating constants...')
 
 const header_data = fs.readFileSync(header, 'UTF-8')
 const regex = /^#define\s+(\w+)\s+(\w+)/gm
+var match
 while (null != (match = regex.exec(header_data))) {
   const key = match[1]
   const value = parseInt(match[2])
@@ -17,8 +19,6 @@ while (null != (match = regex.exec(header_data))) {
   }
 }
 
-delete header_data
-
 const constants = data
   .filter(
     ({ key }) => key.toUpperCase()[0] === key[0] // check if define name is uppercase
@@ -49,17 +49,17 @@ const events = data
 
 // backwards compat
 fs.writeFileSync(
-  path.resolve(__dirname, '../constants.js'),
+  path.resolve(url.fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url)), '../constants.js'),
   `// Generated!\n\nmodule.exports = {\n${constants}\n}\n`
 )
 // backwards compat
 fs.writeFileSync(
-  path.resolve(__dirname, '../events.js'),
+  path.resolve(url.fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url)), '../events.js'),
   `/* eslint-disable quotes */\n// Generated!\n\nmodule.exports = {\n${events}\n}\n`
 )
 
 fs.writeFileSync(
-  path.resolve(__dirname, '../lib/constants.ts'),
+  path.resolve(url.fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url)), '../lib/constants.js'),
   `// Generated!\n\nexport enum C {\n${constants.replace(/:/g, ' =')},\n}\n
 // Generated!\n\nexport const EventId2EventName: { [key: number]: string } = {\n${events},\n}\n`
 )
diff --git a/node/scripts/install.js b/node/scripts/install.js
index 3f320be4a..06400fa25 100644
--- a/node/scripts/install.js
+++ b/node/scripts/install.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-const {execSync} = require('child_process')
-const {existsSync} = require('fs')
-const {join} = require('path')
+import {execSync} from 'child_process'
+import {existsSync} from 'fs'
+import {join} from 'path'
+import * as url from 'url'
 
 const run = (cmd) => {
   console.log('[i] running `' + cmd + '`')
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@ if (process.env.USE_SYSTEM_LIBDELTACHAT === 'true') {
   run('npm run install:prebuilds')
 }
 
-if (!existsSync(join(__dirname, '..', 'dist'))) {
+if (!existsSync(join(url.fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url)), '..', 'dist'))) {
   console.log('[i] Didn\'t find already built typescript bindings. Trying to transpile them. If this fail, make sure typescript is installed ;)')
   run('npm run build:bindings:ts')
 }
diff --git a/node/scripts/postLinksToDetails.js b/node/scripts/postLinksToDetails.js
index 83b70037e..93f351573 100644
--- a/node/scripts/postLinksToDetails.js
+++ b/node/scripts/postLinksToDetails.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-const { readFileSync } = require('fs')
+import { readFileSync } from 'fs'
+import { request } from 'https'
 
 const sha = JSON.parse(
   readFileSync(process.env['GITHUB_EVENT_PATH'], 'utf8')
@@ -21,8 +22,6 @@ const STATUS_DATA = {
   target_url: base_url + file_url,
 }
 
-const http = require('https')
-
 const options = {
   method: 'POST',
   headers: {
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@ const options = {
   },
 }
 
-const req = http.request(GITHUB_API_URL, options, function(res) {
+const req = request(GITHUB_API_URL, options, function (res) {
   var chunks = []
   res.on('data', function(chunk) {
     chunks.push(chunk)
diff --git a/node/scripts/postinstall.js b/node/scripts/postinstall.js
index 15eb241ad..17511e60c 100644
--- a/node/scripts/postinstall.js
+++ b/node/scripts/postinstall.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-const fs = require('fs')
-const path = require('path')
+import fs from 'fs'
+import path from 'path'
+import * as url from 'url'
 
 if (process.platform !== 'win32') {
   console.log('postinstall: not windows, so skipping!')
@@ -7,7 +8,7 @@ if (process.platform !== 'win32') {
 }
 
 const from = path.resolve(
-  __dirname,
+  url.fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url)),
   '..',
   '..',
   'target',
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ const getDestination = () => {
   const argv = process.argv
   if (argv.length === 3 && argv[2] === '--prebuild') {
     return path.resolve(
-      __dirname,
+      url.fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url)),
       '..',
       'prebuilds',
       'win32-x64',
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ const getDestination = () => {
     )
   } else {
     return path.resolve(
-      __dirname,
+      url.fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url)),
       '..',
       'build',
       'Release',
diff --git a/node/scripts/rebuild-core.js b/node/scripts/rebuild-core.js
index 9ff794773..3c8ac71cd 100644
--- a/node/scripts/rebuild-core.js
+++ b/node/scripts/rebuild-core.js
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-const path = require('path')
-const { spawn } = require('./common')
+import path from 'path'
+import { spawn } from './common.js'
+import * as url from 'url'
 const opts = {
-  cwd: path.resolve(__dirname, '../..'),
+  cwd: path.resolve(url.fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url)), '../..'),
   stdio: 'inherit'
 }
 
diff --git a/node/tsconfig.json b/node/tsconfig.json
index 25ce300f2..2f9db602f 100644
--- a/node/tsconfig.json
+++ b/node/tsconfig.json
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
         "outDir": "dist",
         "rootDir": "./lib",
         "sourceMap": true,
-        "module": "commonjs",
+        "module": "nodenext",
+        "moduleResolution": "nodenext",
         "target": "es5",
         "esModuleInterop": true,
         "declaration": true,
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f4310052e..a7ab728d2 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {
+  "type": "module",
   "dependencies": {
     "debug": "^4.1.1",
     "napi-macros": "^2.0.0",
@@ -10,7 +11,7 @@
     "@types/node": "^20.8.10",
     "chai": "~4.3.10",
     "chai-as-promised": "^7.1.1",
-    "mocha": "^8.2.1",
+    "mocha": "^10.2.0",
     "node-gyp": "^10.0.0",
     "prebuildify": "^5.0.1",
     "prebuildify-ci": "^1.0.5",
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@
   ],
   "homepage": "https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-core-rust/tree/master/node",
   "license": "GPL-3.0-or-later",
-  "main": "node/dist/index.js",
+  "exports": "node/dist/index.js",
   "name": "deltachat-node",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",