npm

<html><head> <title>npm-link</title> <style> body { background-color: #ffffff; color: #24292e; margin: 0; line-height: 1.5; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji"; } #rainbar { height: 10px; background-image: linear-gradient(139deg, #fb8817, #ff4b01, #c12127, #e02aff); } a { text-decoration: none; color: #0366d6; } a:hover { text-decoration: underline; } pre { margin: 1em 0px; padding: 1em; border: solid 1px #e1e4e8; border-radius: 6px; display: block; overflow: auto; white-space: pre; background-color: #f6f8fa; color: #393a34; } code { font-family: SFMono-Regular, Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Menlo, Courier, monospace; font-size: 85%; padding: 0.2em 0.4em; background-color: #f6f8fa; color: #393a34; } pre > code { padding: 0; background-color: inherit; color: inherit; } h1, h2, h3 { font-weight: 600; } #logobar { background-color: #333333; margin: 0 auto; padding: 1em 4em; } #logobar .logo { float: left; } #logobar .title { font-weight: 600; color: #dddddd; float: left; margin: 5px 0 0 1em; } #logobar:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } #content { margin: 0 auto; padding: 0 4em; } #table_of_contents > h2 { font-size: 1.17em; } #table_of_contents ul:first-child { border: solid 1px #e1e4e8; border-radius: 6px; padding: 1em; background-color: #f6f8fa; color: #393a34; } #table_of_contents ul { list-style-type: none; padding-left: 1.5em; } #table_of_contents li { font-size: 0.9em; } #table_of_contents li a { color: #000000; } header.title { border-bottom: solid 1px #e1e4e8; } header.title > h1 { margin-bottom: 0.25em; } header.title > .description { display: block; margin-bottom: 0.5em; line-height: 1; } footer#edit { border-top: solid 1px #e1e4e8; margin: 3em 0 4em 0; padding-top: 2em; } </style> </head> <body> <div id="banner"> <div id="rainbar"></div> <div id="logobar"> <svg class="logo" role="img" height="32" width="32" viewBox="0 0 700 700"> <polygon fill="#cb0000" points="0,700 700,700 700,0 0,0"></polygon> <polygon fill="#ffffff" points="150,550 350,550 350,250 450,250 450,550 550,550 550,150 150,150"></polygon> </svg> <div class="title"> npm command-line interface </div> </div> </div> <section id="content"> <header class="title"> <h1 id="npm-link">npm-link</h1> <span class="description">Symlink a package folder</span> </header> <section id="table_of_contents"> <h2 id="table-of-contents">Table of contents</h2> <div id="_table_of_contents"><ul><li><a href="#synopsis">Synopsis</a></li><li><a href="#description">Description</a></li><li><a href="#caveat">Caveat</a></li><li><a href="#see-also">See Also</a></li></ul></div> </section> <div id="_content"><h3 id="synopsis">Synopsis</h3> <pre lang="bash"><code>npm link (in package dir) npm link [<@scope>/]<pkg>[@<version>] alias: npm ln </code></pre> <h3 id="description">Description</h3> <p>This is handy for installing your own stuff, so that you can work on it and test iteratively without having to continually rebuild.</p> <p>Package linking is a two-step process.</p> <p>First, <code>npm link</code> in a package folder will create a symlink in the global folder <code>{prefix}/lib/node_modules/<package></code> that links to the package where the <code>npm link</code> command was executed. It will also link any bins in the package to <code>{prefix}/bin/{name}</code>. Note that <code>npm link</code> uses the global prefix (see <code>npm prefix -g</code> for its value).</p> <p>Next, in some other location, <code>npm link package-name</code> will create a symbolic link from globally-installed <code>package-name</code> to <code>node_modules/</code> of the current folder.</p> <p>Note that <code>package-name</code> is taken from <code>package.json</code>, <em>not</em> from the directory name.</p> <p>The package name can be optionally prefixed with a scope. See <a href="../using-npm/scope.html"><code>scope</code></a>. The scope must be preceded by an @-symbol and followed by a slash.</p> <p>When creating tarballs for <code>npm publish</code>, the linked packages are “snapshotted” to their current state by resolving the symbolic links, if they are included in <code>bundleDependencies</code>.</p> <p>For example:</p> <pre lang="bash"><code>cd ~/projects/node-redis # go into the package directory npm link # creates global link cd ~/projects/node-bloggy # go into some other package directory. npm link redis # link-install the package </code></pre> <p>Now, any changes to <code>~/projects/node-redis</code> will be reflected in <code>~/projects/node-bloggy/node_modules/node-redis/</code>. Note that the link should be to the package name, not the directory name for that package.</p> <p>You may also shortcut the two steps in one. For example, to do the above use-case in a shorter way:</p> <pre lang="bash"><code>cd ~/projects/node-bloggy # go into the dir of your main project npm link ../node-redis # link the dir of your dependency </code></pre> <p>The second line is the equivalent of doing:</p> <pre lang="bash"><code>(cd ../node-redis; npm link) npm link redis </code></pre> <p>That is, it first creates a global link, and then links the global installation target into your project’s <code>node_modules</code> folder.</p> <p>Note that in this case, you are referring to the directory name, <code>node-redis</code>, rather than the package name <code>redis</code>.</p> <p>If your linked package is scoped (see <a href="../using-npm/scope.html"><code>scope</code></a>) your link command must include that scope, e.g.</p> <pre lang="bash"><code>npm link @myorg/privatepackage </code></pre> <h3 id="caveat">Caveat</h3> <p>Note that package dependencies linked in this way are <em>not</em> saved to <code>package.json</code> by default, on the assumption that the intention is to have a link stand in for a regular non-link dependency. Otherwise, for example, if you depend on <code>redis@^3.0.1</code>, and ran <code>npm link redis</code>, it would replace the <code>^3.0.1</code> dependency with <code>file:../path/to/node-redis</code>, which you probably don’t want! Additionally, other users or developers on your project would run into issues if they do not have their folders set up exactly the same as yours.</p> <p>If you are adding a <em>new</em> dependency as a link, you should add it to the relevant metadata by running <code>npm install <dep> --package-lock-only</code>.</p> <p>If you <em>want</em> to save the <code>file:</code> reference in your <code>package.json</code> and <code>package-lock.json</code> files, you can use <code>npm link <dep> --save</code> to do so.</p> <h3 id="see-also">See Also</h3> <ul> <li><a href="../using-npm/developers.html">npm developers</a></li> <li><a href="../configuring-npm/package-json.html">package.json</a></li> <li><a href="../commands/npm-install.html">npm install</a></li> <li><a href="../configuring-npm/folders.html">npm folders</a></li> <li><a href="../commands/npm-config.html">npm config</a></li> <li><a href="../configuring-npm/npmrc.html">npmrc</a></li> </ul> </div> <footer id="edit"> <a href="https://github.com/npm/cli/edit/latest/docs/content/commands/npm-link.md"> <svg role="img" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16" height="16" fill="currentcolor" style="vertical-align: text-bottom; margin-right: 0.3em;"> <path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M11.013 1.427a1.75 1.75 0 012.474 0l1.086 1.086a1.75 1.75 0 010 2.474l-8.61 8.61c-.21.21-.47.364-.756.445l-3.251.93a.75.75 0 01-.927-.928l.929-3.25a1.75 1.75 0 01.445-.758l8.61-8.61zm1.414 1.06a.25.25 0 00-.354 0L10.811 3.75l1.439 1.44 1.263-1.263a.25.25 0 000-.354l-1.086-1.086zM11.189 6.25L9.75 4.81l-6.286 6.287a.25.25 0 00-.064.108l-.558 1.953 1.953-.558a.249.249 0 00.108-.064l6.286-6.286z"></path> </svg> Edit this page on GitHub </a> </footer> </section> </body></html>