npm install (with no args, in package dir)npm install [<@scope>/]<name>npm install [<@scope>/]<name>@<tag>npm install [<@scope>/]<name>@<version>npm install [<@scope>/]<name>@<version range>npm install <alias>@npm:<name>npm install <git-host>:<git-user>/<repo-name>npm install <git repo url>npm install <tarball file>npm install <tarball url>npm install <folder>aliases: npm i, npm addcommon options: [-P|--save-prod|-D|--save-dev|-O|--save-optional|--save-peer] [-E|--save-exact] [-B|--save-bundle] [--no-save] [--dry-run]
This command installs a package and any packages that it depends on. If the package has a package-lock, or an npm shrinkwrap file, or a yarn lock file, the installation of dependencies will be driven by that, respecting the following order of precedence:
npm-shrinkwrap.json
package-lock.json
yarn.lock
See package-lock.json and
npm shrinkwrap
.
A package
is:
package.json
file<name>@<version>
that is published on the registry (see
registry
) with (c)<name>@<tag>
(see npm dist-tag
) that
points to (d)<name>
that has a "latest" tag satisfying (e)<git remote url>
that resolves to (a)Even if you never publish your package, you can still get a lot of benefits of using npm if you just want to write a node program (a), and perhaps if you also want to be able to easily install it elsewhere after packing it up into a tarball (b).
npm install
(in a package directory, no arguments):
Install the dependencies in the local node_modules
folder.
In global mode (ie, with -g
or --global
appended to the command),
it installs the current package context (ie, the current working
directory) as a global package.
By default, npm install
will install all modules listed as
dependencies in package.json
.
With the --production
flag (or when the NODE_ENV
environment
variable is set to production
), npm will not install modules listed
in devDependencies
. To install all modules listed in both
dependencies
and devDependencies
when NODE_ENV
environment
variable is set to production
, you can use --production=false
.
NOTE: The
--production
flag has no particular meaning when adding a dependency to a project.
npm install <folder>
:
Install the package in the directory as a symlink in the current
project. Its dependencies will be installed before it's linked. If
<folder>
sits inside the root of your project, its dependencies may
be hoisted to the top-level node_modules
as they would for other
types of dependencies.
npm install <tarball file>
:
Install a package that is sitting on the filesystem. Note: if you just
want to link a dev directory into your npm root, you can do this more
easily by using npm link
.
Tarball requirements:
The filename must use .tar
, .tar.gz
, or .tgz
as the
extension.
The package contents should reside in a subfolder inside the tarball
(usually it is called package/
). npm strips one directory layer
when installing the package (an equivalent of tar x
--strip-components=1
is run).
The package must contain a package.json
file with name
and
version
properties.
Example:
npm install ./package.tgz
npm install <tarball url>
:
Fetch the tarball url, and then install it. In order to distinguish between this and other options, the argument must start with "http://" or "https://"
Example:
npm install https://github.com/indexzero/forever/tarball/v0.5.6
npm install [<@scope>/]<name>
:
Do a <name>@<tag>
install, where <tag>
is the "tag" config. (See
config
. The config's default value is latest
.)
In most cases, this will install the version of the modules tagged as
latest
on the npm registry.
Example:
npm install sax
npm install
saves any specified packages into dependencies
by default.
Additionally, you can control where and how they get saved with some
additional flags:
-P, --save-prod
: Package will appear in your dependencies
. This
is the default unless -D
or -O
are present.
-D, --save-dev
: Package will appear in your devDependencies
.
-O, --save-optional
: Package will appear in your
optionalDependencies
.
--no-save
: Prevents saving to dependencies
.
When using any of the above options to save dependencies to your package.json, there are two additional, optional flags:
-E, --save-exact
: Saved dependencies will be configured with an
exact version rather than using npm's default semver range operator.
-B, --save-bundle
: Saved dependencies will also be added to your
bundleDependencies
list.
Further, if you have an npm-shrinkwrap.json
or package-lock.json
then it will be updated as well.
<scope>
is optional. The package will be downloaded from the registry
associated with the specified scope. If no registry is associated with
the given scope the default registry is assumed. See
scope
.
Note: if you do not include the @-symbol on your scope name, npm will interpret this as a GitHub repository instead, see below. Scopes names must also be followed by a slash.
Examples:
npm install saxnpm install githubname/reponamenpm install @myorg/privatepackagenpm install node-tap --save-devnpm install dtrace-provider --save-optionalnpm install readable-stream --save-exactnpm install ansi-regex --save-bundle
Note: If there is a file or folder named <name>
in the current
working directory, then it will try to install that, and only try to
fetch the package by name if it is not valid.
npm install <alias>@npm:<name>
:
Install a package under a custom alias. Allows multiple versions of
a same-name package side-by-side, more convenient import names for
packages with otherwise long ones, and using git forks replacements
or forked npm packages as replacements. Aliasing works only on your
project and does not rename packages in transitive dependencies.
Aliases should follow the naming conventions stated in
validate-npm-package-name
.
Examples:
npm install my-react@npm:reactnpm install jquery2@npm:jquery@2npm install jquery3@npm:jquery@3npm install npa@npm:npm-package-arg
npm install [<@scope>/]<name>@<tag>
:
Install the version of the package that is referenced by the specified tag. If the tag does not exist in the registry data for that package, then this will fail.
Example:
npm install sax@latestnpm install @myorg/mypackage@latest
npm install [<@scope>/]<name>@<version>
:
Install the specified version of the package. This will fail if the version has not been published to the registry.
Example:
npm install sax@0.1.1npm install @myorg/privatepackage@1.5.0
npm install [<@scope>/]<name>@<version range>
:
Install a version of the package matching the specified version range.
This will follow the same rules for resolving dependencies described in
package.json
.
Note that most version ranges must be put in quotes so that your shell will treat it as a single argument.
Example:
npm install sax@">=0.1.0 <0.2.0"npm install @myorg/privatepackage@"16 - 17"
npm install <git remote url>
:
Installs the package from the hosted git provider, cloning it with
git
. For a full git remote url, only that URL will be attempted.
<protocol>://[<user>[:<password>]@]<hostname>[:<port>][:][/]<path>[#<commit-ish> | #semver:<semver>]
<protocol>
is one of git
, git+ssh
, git+http
, git+https
, or
git+file
.
If #<commit-ish>
is provided, it will be used to clone exactly that
commit. If the commit-ish has the format #semver:<semver>
, <semver>
can be any valid semver range or exact version, and npm will look for
any tags or refs matching that range in the remote repository, much as
it would for a registry dependency. If neither #<commit-ish>
or
#semver:<semver>
is specified, then the default branch of the
repository is used.
If the repository makes use of submodules, those submodules will be cloned as well.
If the package being installed contains a prepare
script, its
dependencies
and devDependencies
will be installed, and the prepare
script will be run, before the package is packaged and installed.
The following git environment variables are recognized by npm and will be added to the environment when running git:
GIT_ASKPASS
GIT_EXEC_PATH
GIT_PROXY_COMMAND
GIT_SSH
GIT_SSH_COMMAND
GIT_SSL_CAINFO
GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY
See the git man page for details.
Examples:
npm install git+ssh://git@github.com:npm/cli.git#v1.0.27npm install git+ssh://git@github.com:npm/cli#pull/273npm install git+ssh://git@github.com:npm/cli#semver:^5.0npm install git+https://isaacs@github.com/npm/cli.gitnpm install git://github.com/npm/cli.git#v1.0.27GIT_SSH_COMMAND='ssh -i ~/.ssh/custom_ident' npm install git+ssh://git@github.com:npm/cli.git
npm install <githubname>/<githubrepo>[#<commit-ish>]
:
npm install github:<githubname>/<githubrepo>[#<commit-ish>]
:
Install the package at https://github.com/githubname/githubrepo
by
attempting to clone it using git
.
If #<commit-ish>
is provided, it will be used to clone exactly that
commit. If the commit-ish has the format #semver:<semver>
, <semver>
can be any valid semver range or exact version, and npm will look for
any tags or refs matching that range in the remote repository, much as
it would for a registry dependency. If neither #<commit-ish>
or
#semver:<semver>
is specified, then master
is used.
As with regular git dependencies, dependencies
and devDependencies
will be installed if the package has a prepare
script before the
package is done installing.
Examples:
npm install mygithubuser/myprojectnpm install github:mygithubuser/myproject
npm install gist:[<githubname>/]<gistID>[#<commit-ish>|#semver:<semver>]
:
Install the package at https://gist.github.com/gistID
by attempting to
clone it using git
. The GitHub username associated with the gist is
optional and will not be saved in package.json
.
As with regular git dependencies, dependencies
and devDependencies
will
be installed if the package has a prepare
script before the package is
done installing.
Example:
npm install gist:101a11beef
npm install bitbucket:<bitbucketname>/<bitbucketrepo>[#<commit-ish>]
:
Install the package at https://bitbucket.org/bitbucketname/bitbucketrepo
by attempting to clone it using git
.
If #<commit-ish>
is provided, it will be used to clone exactly that
commit. If the commit-ish has the format #semver:<semver>
, <semver>
can
be any valid semver range or exact version, and npm will look for any tags
or refs matching that range in the remote repository, much as it would for a
registry dependency. If neither #<commit-ish>
or #semver:<semver>
is
specified, then master
is used.
As with regular git dependencies, dependencies
and devDependencies
will
be installed if the package has a prepare
script before the package is
done installing.
Example:
npm install bitbucket:mybitbucketuser/myproject
npm install gitlab:<gitlabname>/<gitlabrepo>[#<commit-ish>]
:
Install the package at https://gitlab.com/gitlabname/gitlabrepo
by attempting to clone it using git
.
If #<commit-ish>
is provided, it will be used to clone exactly that
commit. If the commit-ish has the format #semver:<semver>
, <semver>
can
be any valid semver range or exact version, and npm will look for any tags
or refs matching that range in the remote repository, much as it would for a
registry dependency. If neither #<commit-ish>
or #semver:<semver>
is
specified, then master
is used.
As with regular git dependencies, dependencies
and devDependencies
will
be installed if the package has a prepare
script before the package is
done installing.
Example:
npm install gitlab:mygitlabuser/myprojectnpm install gitlab:myusr/myproj#semver:^5.0
You may combine multiple arguments and even multiple types of arguments. For example:
npm install sax@">=0.1.0 <0.2.0" bench supervisor
The --tag
argument will apply to all of the specified install targets. If
a tag with the given name exists, the tagged version is preferred over
newer versions.
The --dry-run
argument will report in the usual way what the install
would have done without actually installing anything.
The --package-lock-only
argument will only update the
package-lock.json
, instead of checking node_modules
and downloading
dependencies.
The -f
or --force
argument will force npm to fetch remote resources
even if a local copy exists on disk.
npm install sax --force
See the config
help doc. Many of the configuration
params have some effect on installation, since that's most of what npm
does.
These are some of the most common options related to installation.
-g
or --global
: install the package globally rather than locally.
See folders.
--global-style
: install the package into your local node_modules
folder with the same layout it uses with the global node_modules
folder. Only your direct dependencies will show in node_modules
and
everything they depend on will be flattened in their node_modules
folders. This obviously will eliminate some deduping.
--legacy-bundling
: install the package in the style of versions of npm
prior to 1.4, where dependencies are not automatically deduped up to the
shallowest level in the tree possible. This is extremely
disk-inefficient.
--legacy-peer-deps
: ignore all peerDependencies
when installing, in
the style of npm version 4 through version 6.
--strict-peer-deps
: fail and abort the install process for any
conflicting peerDependencies when encountered. By default, npm will only
crash for peerDependencies conflicts caused by the direct dependencies of
the root project.
--no-package-lock
(alias: --no-shrinkwrap
): do not read the
lockfile (package-lock.json
or npm-shrinkwrap.json
) for the intended
package tree, and do not save the resulting package tree back to a
lockfile.
You may omit certain types of dependencies by using the --omit=<type>
config option. This may be specified multiple types on the command line.
To enter omit
options in .npmrc
files, use the following syntax:
omit[] = devomit[] = optional; etc...
The dependency types that may be omitted or included are:
peer
: any peerDependencies
, including those with a
peerDependenciesMeta
entry specifying optional: true
optional
: dependencies listed in optionalDependencies
dev
: dependencies listed in devDependencies
To re-include dependency, use the --include
option, which may also be
specified multiple times.
Legacy shorthands for omit
settings are:
--no-optional
: prevent optionalDependencies from being installed. Note
that their presence is still entered in the package-lock.json
file, and
the tree is designed such that they can be installed in the future.
--prod
: prevent devDependencies from being installed.
--only=prod
: omit devDependencies
--also=dev
: include devDependencies
--ignore-scripts
: do not execute any scripts defined in the
package.json. See scripts
.
--no-audit
: disable sending audit reports to the configured registries.
See npm-audit
for details on what is sent.
--no-bin-links
: prevent npm from creating symlinks for any binaries the
package might contain.
--no-fund
: suppress the message displayed at the end of each install
that acknowledges the number of dependencies looking for funding. See
npm-fund
--dry-run
: Do not actually install anything into the node_modules
folder. Just build the intended tree in memory, and report on it.
--no-save
: Do not save installed dependencies to package.json
or
package-lock.json
.
Given a package{dep}
structure: A{B,C}, B{C}, C{D}
,
the npm install algorithm produces:
A+-- B+-- C+-- D
That is, the dependency from B to C is satisfied by the fact that A already caused C to be installed at a higher level. D is still installed at the top level because nothing conflicts with it.
For A{B,C}, B{C,D@1}, C{D@2}
, this algorithm produces:
A+-- B+-- C`-- D@2+-- D@1
Because B's D@1 will be installed in the top-level, C now has to install D@2 privately for itself. This algorithm is deterministic, but different trees may be produced if two dependencies are requested for installation in a different order.
See folders for a more detailed description of the specific folder structures that npm creates.