Skip to content
npm Docs
npmjs.comStatusSupport
About npm
Getting started
Packages and modules
Integrations
Organizations
npm Enterprise
npm CLI
CLI Commands
npmnpm accessnpm addusernpm auditnpm binnpm bugsnpm cachenpm cinpm completionnpm confignpm dedupenpm deprecatenpm diffnpm dist-tagnpm docsnpm doctornpm editnpm execnpm explainnpm explorenpm find-dupesnpm fundnpm helpnpm help-searchnpm hooknpm initnpm installnpm install-ci-testnpm install-testnpm linknpm logoutnpm lsnpm orgnpm outdatednpm ownernpm packnpm pingnpm prefixnpm profilenpm prunenpm publishnpm rebuildnpm reponpm restartnpm rootnpm run-scriptnpm searchnpm set-scriptnpm shrinkwrapnpm starnpm starsnpm startnpm stopnpm teamnpm testnpm tokennpm uninstallnpm unpublishnpm unstarnpm updatenpm versionnpm viewnpm whoaminpx
Configuring npm
Using npm

npm-publish

Publish a package
Version 7.x (Current release)
  • Version 6.x (Legacy release)
  • Version 7.x (Current release)
Table of contents
Table of contents

Synopsis

npm publish [<tarball>|<folder>] [--tag <tag>] [--access <public|restricted>] [--otp otpcode] [--dry-run]
Publishes '.' if no argument supplied
Sets tag 'latest' if no --tag specified

Description

Publishes a package to the registry so that it can be installed by name.

By default npm will publish to the public registry. This can be overridden by specifying a different default registry or using a scope in the name (see package.json).

  • <folder>: A folder containing a package.json file

  • <tarball>: A url or file path to a gzipped tar archive containing a single folder with a package.json file inside.

  • [--tag <tag>]: Registers the published package with the given tag, such that npm install <name>@<tag> will install this version. By default, npm publish updates and npm install installs the latest tag. See npm-dist-tag for details about tags.

  • [--access <public|restricted>]: Tells the registry whether this package should be published as public or restricted. Only applies to scoped packages, which default to restricted. If you don't have a paid account, you must publish with --access public to publish scoped packages.

  • [--otp <otpcode>]: If you have two-factor authentication enabled in auth-and-writes mode then you can provide a code from your authenticator with this. If you don't include this and you're running from a TTY then you'll be prompted.

  • [--dry-run]: As of npm@6, does everything publish would do except actually publishing to the registry. Reports the details of what would have been published.

The publish will fail if the package name and version combination already exists in the specified registry.

Once a package is published with a given name and version, that specific name and version combination can never be used again, even if it is removed with npm unpublish.

As of npm@5, both a sha1sum and an integrity field with a sha512sum of the tarball will be submitted to the registry during publication. Subsequent installs will use the strongest supported algorithm to verify downloads.

Similar to --dry-run see npm pack, which figures out the files to be included and packs them into a tarball to be uploaded to the registry.

Files included in package

To see what will be included in your package, run npx npm-packlist. All files are included by default, with the following exceptions:

  • Certain files that are relevant to package installation and distribution are always included. For example, package.json, README.md, LICENSE, and so on.

  • If there is a "files" list in package.json, then only the files specified will be included. (If directories are specified, then they will be walked recursively and their contents included, subject to the same ignore rules.)

  • If there is a .gitignore or .npmignore file, then ignored files in that and all child directories will be excluded from the package. If both files exist, then the .gitignore is ignored, and only the .npmignore is used.

    .npmignore files follow the same pattern rules as .gitignore files

  • If the file matches certain patterns, then it will never be included, unless explicitly added to the "files" list in package.json, or un-ignored with a ! rule in a .npmignore or .gitignore file.

  • Symbolic links are never included in npm packages.

See developers for full details on what's included in the published package, as well as details on how the package is built.

See Also