Object.create()

Object.create(proto, propertiesObject?)

Returns: object · Updated March 13, 2026 · Object Methods

object prototype oop

Object.create() creates a new object with a specified prototype object and optional property descriptors. This method is fundamental to JavaScript’s prototypal inheritance, allowing developers to explicitly set the prototype of an object at creation time rather than using constructor functions or Object.setPrototypeOf().

Syntax

Object.create(proto)
Object.create(proto, propertiesObject)

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`proto`	`object`	`null`	The object which will be the prototype of the newly created object. Can be `null` for objects without a prototype.
`propertiesObject`	`object`	`undefined`	An optional object whose enumerable own properties specify property descriptors to be added to the new object.

Examples

Creating an object with a custom prototype

const personPrototype = {
  greet() {
    return `Hello, my name is ${this.name}`;
  }
};

const person = Object.create(personPrototype);
person.name = 'Alice';
person.age = 30;

console.log(person.greet());
// Hello, my name is Alice

console.log(Object.getPrototypeOf(person) === personPrototype);
// true

Creating an object with property descriptors

const obj = Object.create(null, {
  name: {
    value: 'JavaScript',
    writable: true,
    enumerable: true,
    configurable: true
  },
  version: {
    value: 'ES5+',
    writable: false,
    enumerable: true,
    configurable: false
  }
});

console.log(obj.name);
// JavaScript

obj.name = 'TypeScript';
console.log(obj.name);
// TypeScript (writable: true)

console.log(obj.version);
// ES5+ (writable: false, cannot be changed)

Creating a null prototype object

const nullProto = Object.create(null);
nullProto.message = 'Hello';

console.log(Object.getPrototypeOf(nullProto));
// null

console.log(nullProto.hasOwnProperty);
// undefined - no inherited methods from Object.prototype

Common Patterns

Factory pattern with Object.create():

function createAnimal(name, species) {
  return Object.create(Animal.prototype, {
    name: { value: name, writable: true, enumerable: true },
    species: { value: species, writable: true, enumerable: true }
  });
}

const dog = createAnimal('Buddy', 'Dog');
console.log(dog.species); // Dog

Object pooling for performance-critical code:

const reusablePool = Object.create(null);
let poolIndex = 0;
const poolSize = 100;

function getFromPool() {
  if (poolIndex < poolSize) {
    return reusablePool[poolIndex++];
  }
  return Object.create(null);
}