How can node scripts write to files, make network requests, etc etc without any standard library? Of course it has a standard library. You could maybe say javascript doesn't have much of a standard library (Array, String, Promise, Error, etc) but js is used with a runtime that will have a standard library.

Node has an extensive "standard library" that does many things, it's known as the "core modules".

Maybe you're referring to Javascript? Javascript lacks many "standard library" things that Nodejs provides.