NPM

See NPM package for details on creation and publishing with TypeScript, Rollup, Vitest, and Changesets

NPM Basics

Initialize NPM Project

npm init

Install Package

npm install <package-name>
npm i <package-name>

Install Package as Dev Dependency

npm install <package-name> --save-dev
npm i <package-name> -D

Uninstall Package

npm uninstall <package-name>

Show Outdated Packages

npm outdated

Update Package

Note: This will update to the latest version according to the versioning rules in package.json. To update to the absolute latest version, you may need to modify the version specifier in package.json first.

npm update <package-name>

Semantic versioning

Specifier	Example	What it Allows (Range)	Updates to	Use For
^ (Caret)	^1.2.3	>=1.2.3 <2.0.0	Minor and Patch	General use, new features
~ (Tilde)	~1.2.3	>=1.2.3 <1.3.0	Patch only	Stability-critical bug fixes
None	1.2.3	1.2.3	Exact version only	Maximum stability, critical production

List Installed Packages

npm list

Show Global Packages

npm list -g --depth=0

Run Script from package.json

npm run <script-name>

Run script from bash

npx <script-name>

Audit for Vulnerabilities

npm audit

Fix Vulnerabilities

npm audit fix
npm audit fix --force

View Package Info

npm view <package-name>

Package.json Key Fields

Specs for package.json file used by NPM to manage project metadata and dependencies can be found at the NPM Package.json Docs.

You can create a package.json file by running npm init in your project directory.

Common Fields to Update

These fields are typically manually updated to reflect the project information for a general web project.

Field	Type	Description
name	String	Name of the package
version	SemVer String	Version of the package
description	String	Short description of the package
license	String	License type for the package
homepage	String	URL of the project homepage
scripts	Object with Script keys	Scripts that can be run using `npm run <name>`
private	Boolean	If true, prevents publishing the package
repository	Object `{type, url}`	Repository URL and type
keywords	Array`[]` of Strings	Keywords for package discovery
author	Object `{name, email, url}`	Author of the package

Fields Managed with NPM commands

This fields are typically managed automatically by NPM commands like npm install, npm uninstall, and npm update

Field	Type	Description
dependencies	Object keys `package-name:semver`	Runtime dependencies
devDependencies	Object keys `package-name:semver`	Development dependencies

Example Web Project package.json

{
  "name": "name-app",
  "version": "0.0.7",
  "description": "name-app description",
  "license": "MIT",
  "homepage": "https://pennockprojects.com/projects/jamstart",
  "scripts": {
    "custom": "echo 'custom script running'"
  },
  "private": true,
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "git+https://github.com/PennockProjects/jamstart.git"
  },
  "author": {
    "name": "John Pennock",
    "email": "info@pennockprojects.com",
    "url": "https://pennockprojects.com"
  },
  "keywords": [
    "example",
    "npm",
    "package.json"
  ],
}

NPM