NPM-INSTALL(1)

NAME
npm-install - Install a package

SYNOPSIS

    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)

DESCRIPTION

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 help shrinkwrap.

A package is:

    •   a) a folder containing a program described by a npm help 5 package.json file

    •   b) a gzipped tarball containing (a)

    •   c) a url that resolves to (b)

    •   d) a <name>@<version> that is published on the registry (see npm help 7 npm-registry) with (c)

    •   e) a <name>@<tag> (see npm help npm-dist-tag) that points to (d)

    •   f) a <name> that has a "latest" tag satisfying (e)

    •   g) a <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
          in npm help 5 package.json.
          With the --production flag (or when the NODE_ENV environment variable
          is set to production), 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 help 7 npm-config. The config's default value is latest.)
          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 help 7 npm-scope. 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 npm help 5 package.json.
          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 <git remote url>:
          Install a package by cloning a git remote url. The format of the git
          url is:

            <protocol>://[<user>[:<password>]@]<hostname>[:<port>][:/]<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.
      The following git environment variables are recognized by npm and will be added
      to the environment when running git:

        •   GIT_ASKPASS

        •   GIT_PROXY_COMMAND

        •   GIT_SSH

        •   GIT_SSH_COMMAND

        •   GIT_SSL_CAINFO

        •   GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY See the git man page for details. Examples:

            npm install git+ssh://git@github.com:npm/npm.git#v1.0.27
            npm install git+https://isaacs@github.com/npm/npm.git
            npm install git://github.com/npm/npm.git#v1.0.27
            GIT_SSH_COMMAND='ssh -i ~/.ssh/custom_ident' npm install git+ssh://git@github.com:npm/npm.git

    •   npm install <githubname>/<githubrepo>[#<commit-ish>]:

    •   npm install github:<githubname>/<githubrepo>[#<commit-ish>]:
          Install the package at https://github.com/githubname/githubrepo by
          attempting to clone it using git.
          If you don't specify a commit-ish then master will be used.
          Examples:

            npm install mygithubuser/myproject
            npm install github:mygithubuser/myproject

    •   npm install gist:[<githubname>/]<gistID>[#<commit-ish>]:
          Install the package at https://gist.github.com/gistID by attempting to
          clone it using git. The GitHub username associated with the gist is
          optional and will not be saved in package.json if --save is used.
          If you don't specify a commit-ish then master will be used.
          Example:

            npm install gist:101a11beef

    •   npm install bitbucket:<bitbucketname>/<bitbucketrepo>[#<commit-ish>]:
          Install the package at https://bitbucket.org/bitbucketname/bitbucketrepo
          by attempting to clone it using git.
          If you don't specify a commit-ish then master will be used.
          Example:

            npm install bitbucket:mybitbucketuser/myproject

    •   npm install gitlab:<gitlabname>/<gitlabrepo>[#<commit-ish>]:
          Install the package at https://gitlab.com/gitlabname/gitlabrepo
          by attempting to clone it using git.
          If you don't specify a commit-ish then master will be used.
          Example:

            npm install gitlab:mygitlabuser/myproject

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 help 5 npm-folders.

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 help 7 npm-config. Many of the configuration params have some effect on installation, since that's most of what npm does.

ALGORITHM

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 help 5 folders for a more detailed description of the specific folder structures that npm creates.

  Limitations of npm's Install Algorithm

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.

SEE ALSO

    •   npm help 5 folders

    •   npm help update

    •   npm help link

    •   npm help rebuild

    •   npm help 7 scripts

    •   npm help build

    •   npm help config

    •   npm help 7 config

    •   npm help 5 npmrc

    •   npm help 7 registry

    •   npm help tag

    •   npm help uninstall

    •   npm help shrinkwrap

    •   npm help 5 package.json