nodejs - what to use instead of require.paths?

have a look at https://github.com/patrick-steele-idem/app-module-path-node; you can add a directory to the require statements in the top level, without influencing the paths of sub-modules.

I believe the concern is that it can be repeatedly modified at run time, rather than just set. That could obviously be confusing and causes some quite bizarre bugs. Also, if individual packages modify the path the results are applied globally, which is really bad and goes against the modular nature of node.

If you have several library paths of your own, the best solution is to set the NODE_PATH environment variable before launching node. Node then picks this up when it's launched and applies it automatically.

I keep the related models in the same dir or a sub dir and load using:

var x = require('./mod/x');

In case it's an external module, I install it using npm that puts the module correctly in NODE_PATH.

I've never changed require.paths.