Install a package
npm install (with no args in a package dir)
npm install <tarball file>
npm install <tarball url>
npm install <folder>
npm install [@<scope>/]<name> [--save|--save-dev|--save-optional] [--save-exact]
npm install [@<scope>/]<name>@<tag>
npm install [@<scope>/]<name>@<version>
npm install [@<scope>/]<name>@<version range>
npm i (with any of the previous argument usage)
This command installs a package, and any packages that it depends on. If the package has a shrinkwrap file, the installation of dependencies will be driven by that. See npm-shrinkwrap(1).
A package is:
<name>@<version> that is published on the registry (see npm-registry(7)) with (c)<name>@<tag> that points to (d)<name> that has a "latest" tag satisfying (e)<git remote url> that resolves to (b)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 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. With the --production flag,
npm will not install modules listed in devDependencies.
npm install <folder>:
Install a package that is sitting in a folder on the filesystem.
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.
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> [--save|--save-dev|--save-optional]:
Do a <name>@<tag> install, where <tag> is the "tag" config. (See
npm-config(7).)
In most cases, this will install the latest version of the module published on npm.
Example:
npm install sax
npm install takes 3 exclusive, optional flags which save or update
the package version in your main package.json:
--save: Package will appear in your dependencies.
--save-dev: Package will appear in your devDependencies.
--save-optional: Package will appear in your optionalDependencies.
When using any of the above options to save dependencies to your package.json, there is an additional, optional flag:
--save-exact: Saved dependencies will be configured with an
exact version rather than using npm's default semver range
operator.
<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 npm-scope(7).
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 sax --save
npm install githubname/reponame
npm install @myorg/privatepackage
npm install node-tap --save-dev
npm install dtrace-provider --save-optional
npm install readable-stream --save --save-exact
**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 [@<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@latest
npm 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@0.1.1
npm 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(5).
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@">=0.1.0 <0.2.0"
npm install <githubname>/<githubrepo>:
Install the package at https://github.com/githubname/githubrepo" by
attempting to clone it usinggit`.
Example:
npm install mygithubuser/myproject
To reference a package in a git repo that is not on GitHub, see git remote urls below.
npm install <git remote url>:
Install a package by cloning a git remote url. The format of the git url is:
<protocol>://[<user>@]<hostname><separator><path>[#<commit-ish>]
<protocol> is one of git, git+ssh, git+http, or
git+https. If no <commit-ish> is specified, then master is
used.
Examples:
git+ssh://git@github.com:npm/npm.git#v1.0.27
git+https://isaacs@github.com/npm/npm.git
git://github.com/npm/npm.git#v1.0.27
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 --force argument will force npm to fetch remote resources even if a
local copy exists on disk.
npm install sax --force
The --global argument will cause npm to install the package globally
rather than locally. See npm-folders(5).
The --link argument will cause npm to link global installs into the
local space in some cases.
The --no-bin-links argument will prevent npm from creating symlinks for
any binaries the package might contain.
The --no-optional argument will prevent optional dependencies from
being installed.
The --no-shrinkwrap argument, which will ignore an available
shrinkwrap file and use the package.json instead.
The --nodedir=/path/to/node/source argument will allow npm to find the
node source code so that npm can compile native modules.
See npm-config(7). Many of the configuration params have some
effect on installation, since that's most of what npm does.
To install a package, npm uses the following algorithm:
install(where, what, family, ancestors)
fetch what, unpack to <where>/node_modules/<what>
for each dep in what.dependencies
resolve dep to precise version
for each dep@version in what.dependencies
not in <where>/node_modules/<what>/node_modules/*
and not in <family>
add precise version deps to <family>
install(<where>/node_modules/<what>, dep, family)
For this package{dep} structure: A{B,C}, B{C}, C{D},
this 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.
See npm-folders(5) for a more detailed description of the specific folder structures that npm creates.
There are some very rare and pathological edge-cases where a cycle can cause npm to try to install a never-ending tree of packages. Here is the simplest case:
A -> B -> A' -> B' -> A -> B -> A' -> B' -> A -> ...
where A is some version of a package, and A' is a different version
of the same package. Because B depends on a different version of A
than the one that is already in the tree, it must install a separate
copy. The same is true of A', which must install B'. Because B'
depends on the original version of A, which has been overridden, the
cycle falls into infinite regress.
To avoid this situation, npm flat-out refuses to install any
name@version that is already present anywhere in the tree of package
folder ancestors. A more correct, but more complex, solution would be
to symlink the existing version into the new location. If this ever
affects a real use-case, it will be investigated.