NPM commands cheat sheet

NPM commands cheat sheet.md

Npm has a lot of commands, lets make a cheat sheet!

Community Features

• adduser (alias: add-user | login)

  Create or Login into the npm server.

  npm adduser
  

  (Follow the instructions)

• whoami

  Outputs as what user you are logged in.

  npm whoami
  

• star <-> unstar

  Changes the rating of a package in the system

  npm star express
  

• view (alias: info | how)

  Shows the information to a package in the package manager

  npm view socket.io
  

• search (alias: find | s | se)

  Searches for packages using a free text search

  npm search browserify
  

NPM Information

• help (alias: apihelp)

  Shows the help for all npm commands.

  npm help json
  

  Recommended reading: developers, json, folder, coding-style

• faq

  Shows frequently asked questions

  npm faq
  

• help-search

  Searches through all of the available search topics using an abritary string

  npm help-search repository
  

• root

  Shows the current npm modules directory

  npm root
  

• bin

  Shows the current npm bin directory

  npm bin
  

• prefix

  Shows the folder where npm modules should be installed

  npm prefix
  

• version

  Shows the currently running npm version

  npm version
  

• ls (alias la | ll | list)

  Shows what packages are installed

  npm ls
  

NPM Settings

• completion

  Tool to enable code completion in bash

  npm completion >> ~/.bashrc
  

• set <-> get

  Changes or shows a property of npm.

  npm get repository
  

• config (c)

  Extended access to properties (not just get/set)

  npm config list
  

• cache

  Tool to manipulate the local package cache.

  npm cache clean
  

• link (alias: ln)

  Links a folder in the global package space.

  npm link ~/myLocalPackage
  

Foreign Package Information

• bugs

  Opens the bug-tracker of a package in the browser

  npm bugs gaze
  

• explore

  Opens a new shell session and sets its current directory to the installed package directory.

  npm explore request
  

• docs (home)

  Opens the documentation of the supplied package in the browser.

  npm docs mongoose
  

• edit

  Opens the editor with focus on the folder of the package.

  npm edit jade
  

  Note: You need to setup your editor if you don't want to use VI

Package Creation

• init

  Wizard to create a package.json file.

  npm init
  

  Note: Follow the wizard dilligently ;-)

• install <-> rm (alias: uninstall)

  Downloads and installs or uninstalls a package

  npm install grunt
  

  or globally

  npm install grunt-cli -g
  

• publish <-> unpublish

  Publishes a package to the npm

  npm publish .
  

• owner (alias: author)

  User manager for the installed package.

  npm owner add substack .
  

• tag

  Add a tag for a package

  npm tag [email protected] awesome
  

• deprecate

  Mark a package (or a version of it) as deprecated

  npm deprecate [email protected]
  

• outdated

  Checks if any package is outdated.

  npm outdated
  

• submodule

  Helper to create a submodule at the git directory specified in the package.json of the module.

  npm submodule example
  

• update (alias: up)

  Updates all packages to the latest version.

  npm update
  

• shrinkwrap

  Creates a npm-shrinkwrap.json that fixates which versions of which libraries to install

  npm shinkwrap
  

• dedupe (alias: ddp | find-dupes)

  Removes duplicates of referenced packages

  npm dedupe
  

• prune

  Removes packages that are installed but not listed in the package.json

  npm prune
  

• pack

  Creates a tarball from a package

  npm pack .
  

Package Interaction

• run-script

  Runs one of the scripts defined in package.json (usually not needed)

  npm run-script postinstall
  

  Possible scripts:

  preinstall, install, postinstall
  preuninstall, uninstall, postuninstall
  preupdate, update, postupdate
  prepublish, publish, postpublish
  pretest, test, posttest
  prestop, stop, poststop
  prestart, start, poststart
  prerestart
  

• start <-> restart <-> stop

  Starts whatever there is to start.

  npm start
  

• test (alias: tst)

  Runs tests for the current package

  npm test
  

• rebuild (alias: rb)

  Build any binary library required for this package.

  npm rebuild
  

Easter eggs

• xmas
• substack