npm-README - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

NAME

npm - a JavaScript package manager

Build Status https://travis-ci.org/npm/npm

SYNOPSIS

This is just enough info to get you up and running.

Much more info available via npm help once it´s installed.

IMPORTANT

You need node v0.8 or higher to run this program.

To install an old and unsupported version of npm that works on node 0.3 and prior, clone
the git repo and dig through the old tags and branches.

npm is configured to use npm, Inc.´s public package registry at https://registry.npmjs.org
by default.

You can configure npm to use any compatible registry you like, and even run your own
registry. Check out the doc on registries https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/registry.

Use of someone else´s registry may be governed by terms of use. The terms of use for the
default public registry are available at https://www.npmjs.com.

Super Easy Install

npm is bundled with node http://nodejs.org/download/.

Windows Computers
Get the MSI http://nodejs.org/download/. npm is in it.

Apple Macintosh Computers
Get the pkg http://nodejs.org/download/. npm is in it.

Other Sorts of Unices
Run make install. npm will be installed with node.

If you want a more fancy pants install (a different version, customized paths, etc.) then
read on.

Fancy Install (Unix)

There´s a pretty robust install script at https://www.npmjs.com/install.sh. You can
download that and run it.

Here´s an example using curl:

curl -L https://www.npmjs.com/install.sh | sh

Slightly Fancier
You can set any npm configuration params with that script:

npm_config_prefix=/some/path sh install.sh

Or, you can run it in uber-debuggery mode:

npm_debug=1 sh install.sh

Even Fancier
Get the code with git. Use make to build the docs and do other stuff. If you plan on
hacking on npm, make link is your friend.

If you´ve got the npm source code, you can also semi-permanently set arbitrary config keys
using the ./configure --key=val ..., and then run npm commands by doing node cli.js <cmd>
<args>. (This is helpful for testing, or running stuff without actually installing npm
itself.)

Windows Install or Upgrade

You can download a zip file from https://github.com/npm/npm/releases, and unpack it in the
node_modules\npm folder inside node´s installation folder.

To upgrade to npm 2, follow the Windows upgrade instructions in the npm Troubleshooting
Guide:

https://github.com/npm/npm/wiki/Troubleshooting#upgrading-on-windows

If that´s not fancy enough for you, then you can fetch the code with git, and mess with it
directly.

Installing on Cygwin

No.

Uninstalling

So sad to see you go.

sudo npm uninstall npm -g

Or, if that fails,

sudo make uninstall

More Severe Uninstalling

Usually, the above instructions are sufficient. That will remove npm, but leave behind
anything you´ve installed.

If you would like to remove all the packages that you have installed, then you can use the
npm ls command to find them, and then npm rm to remove them.

To remove cruft left behind by npm 0.x, you can use the included clean-old.sh script file.
You can run it conveniently like this:

npm explore npm -g -- sh scripts/clean-old.sh

npm uses two configuration files, one for per-user configs, and another for global
(every-user) configs. You can view them by doing:

npm config get userconfig # defaults to ~/.npmrc
npm config get globalconfig # defaults to /usr/local/etc/npmrc

Uninstalling npm does not remove configuration files by default. You must remove them
yourself manually if you want them gone. Note that this means that future npm installs
will not remember the settings that you have chosen.

Using npm Programmatically

Although npm can be used programmatically, its API is meant for use by the CLI only, and
no guarantees are made regarding its fitness for any other purpose. If you want to use npm
to reliably perform some task, the safest thing to do is to invoke the desired npm command
with appropriate arguments.

The semantic version of npm refers to the CLI itself, rather than the underlying API. The
internal API is not guaranteed to remain stable even when npm´s version indicates no
breaking changes have been made according to semver.

If you still would like to use npm programmatically, it´s possible. The API isn´t very
well documented, but it is rather simple.

Eventually, npm will be just a thin CLI wrapper around the modules that it depends on, but
for now, there are some things that only the CLI can do. You should try using one of npm´s
dependencies first, and only use the API if what you´re trying to do is only supported by
npm itself.

var npm = require("npm")
npm.load(myConfigObject, function (er) {
if (er) return handlError(er)
npm.commands.install(["some", "args"], function (er, data) {
if (er) return commandFailed(er)
// command succeeded, and data might have some info
})
npm.registry.log.on("log", function (message) { .... })
})

The load function takes an object hash of the command-line configs. The various
npm.commands.<cmd> functions take an array of positional argument strings. The last
argument to any npm.commands.<cmd> function is a callback. Some commands take other
optional arguments. Read the source.

You cannot set configs individually for any single npm function at this time. Since npm is
a singleton, any call to npm.config.set will change the value for all npm commands in that
process.

See ./bin/npm-cli.js for an example of pulling config values off of the command line
arguments using nopt. You may also want to check out npm help config to learn about all
the options you can set there.

More Docs

Check out the docs https://docs.npmjs.com/, especially the faq
https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/faq.

You can use the npm help command to read any of them.

If you´re a developer, and you want to use npm to publish your program, you should read
this https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/developers

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