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Catalog / NPM Cheatsheet

NPM Cheatsheet

A comprehensive cheat sheet for Node Package Manager (NPM), covering essential commands and functionalities for managing JavaScript packages and dependencies.

Basic NPM Commands

Installation

npm install or npm i

Installs all dependencies defined in package.json in the current directory.

npm install

npm install <package_name>

Installs a specific package and adds it as a dependency to package.json.

npm install lodash

npm install <package_name> --save-dev or -D

Installs a package as a development dependency. Useful for tools like testing frameworks.

npm install jest --save-dev

npm install <package_name> --global or -g

Installs a package globally, making it available in the system’s PATH. Often used for command-line tools.

npm install create-react-app --global

npm install <git_repo>

Install a package directly from a git repository.

npm install git+ssh://[email protected]:user/repo.git

npm ci

Install dependencies with a clean slate, based on package-lock.json. Faster and ensures consistency across environments.

npm ci

Updating Packages

npm update

Updates all packages listed in package.json to the latest version that satisfies the version ranges specified.

npm update

npm update <package_name>

Updates a specific package to the latest version that satisfies its version range.

npm update lodash

npm audit fix

Attempts to automatically fix known security vulnerabilities in your dependencies.

npm audit fix

npm outdated

Lists outdated packages.

npm outdated

Uninstalling Packages

npm uninstall <package_name>

Uninstalls a package from the node_modules directory and removes it from package.json dependencies.

npm uninstall lodash

npm uninstall <package_name> --save-dev

Uninstalls a package from development dependencies.

npm uninstall jest --save-dev

npm uninstall -g <package_name>

Uninstalls a globally installed package.

npm uninstall -g create-react-app

npm clean-install

Remove node_modules and install dependencies.

npm clean-install

Managing Dependencies

Package Information

npm view <package_name>

Displays detailed information about a package from the npm registry.

npm view lodash

npm view <package_name> version

Shows the latest version of a specific package.

npm view lodash version

npm view <package_name> dependencies

Lists the dependencies of a specific package.

npm view lodash dependencies

npm ls

Lists installed packages and their dependencies in a tree structure.

npm ls

Working with package.json

npm init

Guides you through creating a new package.json file for your project.

npm init

npm init -y or npm init --yes

Creates a package.json file with default values without prompting for input.

npm init -y

npm install --production

Installs only production dependencies (excluding devDependencies) from package.json.

npm install --production

npm prune --production

Removes extraneous packages. If the --production flag is set, only removes the packages that are not listed in dependencies.

npm prune --production

Scripts

npm run <script_name>

Executes a script defined in the scripts section of package.json.

npm run start

npm start

Runs the start script defined in package.json. Often used to start the application.

npm start

npm test

Runs the test script defined in package.json. Used for running tests.

npm test

npm stop

Runs the stop script defined in package.json. Used for stopping the application.

npm stop

npm restart

Runs the restart script defined in package.json. Used for restarting the application.

npm restart

Advanced NPM Usage

Publishing Packages

npm login

Logs you into the npm registry using your credentials.

npm login

npm publish

Publishes the package in the current directory to the npm registry. Make sure to increment the version number in package.json before publishing.

npm publish

npm unpublish <package_name>@<version>

Removes a published package from the npm registry. Use with caution!

npm unpublish [email protected]

npm owner add <user> <package_name>

Adds a user as an owner of a package, allowing them to manage the package.

npm owner add username my-package

Managing Cache

npm cache clean --force

Clears the npm cache. Use with caution, as it can sometimes resolve installation issues.

npm cache clean --force

npm cache verify

Verifies the integrity of the cache and cleans up corrupted data.

npm cache verify

npm config get cache

Gets the cache location.

npm config get cache

NPM Configuration

npm config list

Displays the current npm configuration.

npm config list

npm config get <key>

Retrieves the value of a specific configuration key.

npm config get registry

npm config set <key> <value>

Sets a configuration key to a specific value.

npm config set registry https://registry.npmjs.org/

npm config delete <key>

Deletes a configuration key.

npm config delete registry

NPM Versioning and Security

Semantic Versioning

NPM uses semantic versioning (semver) to manage package versions.

MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH

  • MAJOR: Incompatible API changes
  • MINOR: Add functionality in a backwards compatible manner
  • PATCH: Backwards compatible bug fixes

Examples of version ranges:

  • 1.2.3: Exact version
  • ^1.2.3: Compatible with 1.x.x, but not 2.0.0
  • ~1.2.3: Compatible with 1.2.x, but not 1.3.0
  • >: Greater than
  • <: Less than
  • >=: Greater than or equal to
  • <=: Less than or equal to
  • *: Any version

Security Audits

npm audit

Analyzes your project’s dependencies for security vulnerabilities and provides a report.

npm audit

npm audit fix

Attempts to automatically fix the detected security vulnerabilities by updating to secure versions of the dependencies.

npm audit fix

npm audit fix --force

Attempts to automatically fix the detected security vulnerabilities by updating to secure versions of the dependencies with force.

npm audit fix --force

Bumping Versions

npm version <new_version>

Sets the package version to a specific version number.

npm version 2.0.0

npm version major

Increments the major version number.

npm version major

npm version minor

Increments the minor version number.

npm version minor

npm version patch

Increments the patch version number.

npm version patch

npm version prerelease

Increments the pre-release version number.

npm version prerelease
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