My npm cheatsheet

October 23, 2023

I’ve compiled an overview of the npm commands I use frequently. Mostly so that I’m able to come back here if I ever forget anything. Please note that I’ve chosen React as the “package of honor” for all the examples below.

Initialize new project

It’s nice to pass -y to skip the prompts. If I’m starting a new project, then it’s in the early stages, and I likely don’t know any of the answers to those prompts.

npm init -y

Dependency management

Note: For commands in the block below, you can specify an exact package version like <package>@1.2.3.

npm i react # Install to dependencies
npm i react -D # Install to devDependencies
npm un react # Uninstall
npm up react # Update

Semantic versioning

Packages hosted on npm generally use Semantic Versioning, or SemVer. The dependencies in package.json have version ranges containing notation that can be tricky to remember - these are defined in the table below. Additionally, npm provides this nice SemVer calculator if you ever need to do a sanity check against a specific package.

Range	Description
~version	Approximately equivalent to version. Only accept new patch versions. `~1.2.3 == 1.2.3 to <1.3.0`
^version	Compatible with version. Accept new minor and patch versions. `^2.3.4 == 2.3.4 to <3.0.0`
version	Exact match.
>version	Must be greater than version.
>=version	Must be greater than or equal to version.
<version	Must be less than version.
<=version	Must be less than or equal to version.
1.2.x	`1.2.0, 1.2.1, etc., but not 1.3.0`
*	Any version
latest	Most recent release

List installed dependencies (node_modules)

npm ls --depth=0

List all scripts

npm run
Lifecycle scripts included in <package>@1.2.3:
  start
    npm run build && node index.js

available via `npm run-script`:
  build
    npx tsc
  lint
    npx eslint .

Search npm registry

npm search react
NAME                      | DESCRIPTION          | AUTHOR          | DATE       | VERSION  | KEYWORDS
react                     | React is a…          | =gaearon…       | 2022-06-14 | 18.2.0   | react   
rxjs                      | Reactive Extensions… | =cartant…       | 2023-04-26 | 7.8.1    | Rx RxJS Re
react-dom                 | React package for…   | =gaearon =zpao… | 2022-06-14 | 18.2.0   | react
react-dropzone            | Simple HTML5…        | =rolandjitsu…   | 2022-10-12 | 14.2.3   | react-comp
styled-components         | Visual primitives…   | =geelen…        | 2023-05-06 | 6.0.0-r… | react css

View package information from registry

View general info about a package

npm view react
react@18.2.0 | MIT | deps: 1 | versions: 1335
React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
https://reactjs.org/

keywords: react

dist
.tarball: https://registry.npmjs.org/react/-/react-18.2.0.tgz
.shasum: 555bd98592883255fa00de14f1151a917b5d77d5
.integrity: sha512-/3IjMdb2L9QbBdWiW5e3P2/npwMBaU9mHCSCUzNln0ZCYbcfTsGbTJrU/kGemdH2IWmB2ioZ+zkxtmq6g09fGQ==
.unpackedSize: 316.1 kB

dependencies:
loose-envify: ^1.1.0 

maintainers:
- gaearon <dan.abramov@gmail.com>
- gnoff <jcs.gnoff@gmail.com>
- fb <opensource+npm@fb.com>
- sophiebits <npm@sophiebits.com>
- react-bot <react-core@meta.com>

dist-tags:
beta: 18.0.0-beta-24dd07bd2-20211208
canary: 18.3.0-canary-5309f1028-20230517
experimental: 0.0.0-experimental-5309f1028-20230517
latest: 18.2.0
next: 18.3.0-canary-5309f1028-20230517
rc: 18.0.0-rc.3

published 11 months ago by gnoff <jcs.gnoff@gmail.com>

View published versions of a package

Note: I’ve simplified the output here, since React has so many versions.

npm view react versions
[
  '18.0.0',
  '18.1.0',
  '18.2.0'
]

Clear local registry cache

Sometimes, you need to rule out that you don’t have some strange version of a package cached. Especially if your company hosts an internal npm registry that may have been acting up. This command is rare, but I figured I’d include it since I use it sometimes.

npm cache clean --force

nvm: Node Version Manager

Install latest version of node 18

nvm i 18

Start using this version of node for this bash session

nvm use 18

Set version of node for your workspace

nvm alias default 18

List all installed versions

nvm ls

List all published versions

nvm ls-remote