deno installdeno install [OPTIONS] [cmd]...Installs dependencies either in the local project or globally to a bin directory.
Add dependencies to the local project's configuration (deno.json / package.json) and installs them in the package cache. If no dependency is specified, installs all dependencies listed in the config file. If the --entrypoint flag is passed, installs the dependencies of the specified entrypoint(s).
deno install
deno install jsr:@std/bytes
deno install npm:chalk
deno install --entrypoint entry1.ts entry2.ts
If the --global flag is set, installs a script as an executable in the installation root's bin directory.
deno install --global --allow-net --allow-read jsr:@std/http/file-server
deno install -g https://examples.deno.land/color-logging.ts
To change the executable name, use -n/--name:
deno install -g --allow-net --allow-read -n serve jsr:@std/http/file-server
The executable name is inferred by default:
file_server.main, mod, index or cli, and the path has no parent, take the file name of the parent path. Otherwise settle with the generic name.@... suffix, strip it.To change the installation root, use --root:
deno install -g --allow-net --allow-read --root /usr/local jsr:@std/http/file-server
The installation root is determined, in order of precedence:
--root optionDENO_INSTALL_ROOT environment variable$HOME/.denoThese must be added to the path manually if required.
--check Set type-checking behavior. This subcommand type-checks local modules by default, so adding --check is redundant If the value of "all" is supplied, remote modules will be included. Alternatively, the 'deno check' subcommand can be used.
--no-check Skip type-checking. If the value of "remote" is supplied, diagnostic errors from remote modules will be ignored.
--cached-only Require that remote dependencies are already cached.
--frozen Error out if lockfile is out of date.
--import-map Load import map file from local file or remote URL.
--lock Check the specified lock file. (If value is not provided, defaults to "./deno.lock").
--no-lock Disable auto discovery of the lock file.
--no-npm Do not resolve npm modules.
--no-remote Do not resolve remote modules.
--node-modules-dir Sets the node modules management mode for npm packages.
--reload Short flag: -r
Reload source code cache (recompile TypeScript) no value Reload everything jsr:@std/http/file-server,jsr:@std/assert/assert-equals Reloads specific modules npm: Reload all npm modules npm:chalk Reload specific npm module.
--vendor Toggles local vendor folder usage for remote modules and a node_modules folder for npm packages.
--allow-scripts Allow running npm lifecycle scripts for the given packages Note: Scripts will only be executed when using a node_modules directory (--node-modules-dir).
--cert Load certificate authority from PEM encoded file.
--conditions Use this argument to specify custom conditions for npm package exports. You can also use DENO_CONDITIONS env var. .
--config Short flag: -c
Configure different aspects of deno including TypeScript, linting, and code formatting. Typically the configuration file will be called deno.json or deno.jsonc and automatically detected; in that case this flag is not necessary.
--dev Short flag: -D
Add the package as a dev dependency. Note: This only applies when adding to a package.json file.
--entrypoint Short flag: -e
Install dependents of the specified entrypoint(s).
--env-file Load environment variables from local file Only the first environment variable with a given key is used. Existing process environment variables are not overwritten, so if variables with the same names already exist in the environment, their values will be preserved. Where multiple declarations for the same environment variable exist in your .env file, the first one encountered is applied. This is determined by the order of the files you pass as arguments.
--force Short flag: -f
Forcefully overwrite existing installation.
--global Short flag: -g
Install a package or script as a globally available executable.
--jsr assume unprefixed package names are jsr packages.
--location Value of globalThis.location used by some web APIs.
--name Short flag: -n
Executable file name.
--no-config Disable automatic loading of the configuration file.
--npm assume unprefixed package names are npm packages.
--preload A list of files that will be executed before the main module.
--root Installation root.
--seed Set the random number generator seed.
--v8-flags To see a list of all available flags use --v8-flags=--help Flags can also be set via the DENO_V8_FLAGS environment variable. Any flags set with this flag are appended after the DENO_V8_FLAGS environment variable.
--inspect Activate inspector on host:port [default: 127.0.0.1:9229]
--inspect-brk Activate inspector on host:port, wait for debugger to connect and break at the start of user script.
--inspect-wait Activate inspector on host:port and wait for debugger to connect before running user code.
Use this command to install all dependencies defined in deno.json and/or package.json.
The dependencies will be installed in the global cache, but if your project has a package.json file, a local node_modules directory will be set up as well.
Use this command to install particular packages and add them to deno.json or package.json.
$ deno install jsr:@std/testing npm:express
You can also use deno add which is an alias to deno install [PACKAGES]
If your project has a package.json file, the packages coming from npm will be added to dependencies in package.json. Otherwise all packages will be added to deno.json.
Use this command to install all dependencies that are used in the provided files and their dependencies.
This is particularly useful if you use jsr:, npm:, http: or https: specifiers in your code and want to cache all the dependencies before deploying your project.
import * as colors from "jsr:@std/fmt/colors";
import express from "npm:express";
$ deno install -e main.js
Download jsr:@std/fmt
Download npm:express
If you want to set up local node_modules directory, you can pass --node-modules-dir=auto flag.
Some dependencies might not work correctly without a local node_modules directory.
Use this command to install provide package or script as a globally available binary on your system.
This command creates a thin, executable shell script which invokes deno using the specified CLI flags and main module. It is placed in the installation root.
Example:
$ deno install --global --allow-net --allow-read jsr:@std/http/file-server
Download jsr:@std/http/file-server...
✅ Successfully installed file-server.
/Users/deno/.deno/bin/file-server
To change the executable name, use -n/--name:
deno install -g -N -R -n serve jsr:@std/http/file-server
The executable name is inferred by default:
To change the installation root, use --root:
deno install -g -N -R --root /usr/local/bin jsr:@std/http/file-server
The installation root is determined, in order of precedence:
--root optionDENO_INSTALL_ROOT environment variable$HOME/.deno/binThese must be added to the path manually if required.
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.deno/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
You must specify permissions that will be used to run the script at installation time.
deno install -g -N -R jsr:@std/http/file-server -- -p 8080
The above command creates an executable called file_server that runs with network and read permissions and binds to port 8080.
For good practice, use the import.meta.main idiom to specify the entry point in an executable script.
Example:
// https://example.com/awesome/cli.ts
async function myAwesomeCli(): Promise<void> {
// -- snip --
}
if (import.meta.main) {
myAwesomeCli();
}
When you create an executable script make sure to let users know by adding an example installation command to your repository:
# Install using deno install
$ deno install -n awesome_cli https://example.com/awesome/cli.ts
A lot of popular packages npm packages like npm:sqlite3 or npm:duckdb depend on "lifecycle scripts", eg. preinstall or postinstall scripts. Most often running these scripts is required for a package to work correctly.
Unlike npm, Deno does not run these scripts by default as they pose a potential security vulnerability.
You can still run these scripts by passing the --allow-scripts=<packages> flag when running deno install:
deno install --allow-scripts=npm:sqlite3
Install all dependencies and allow npm:sqlite3 package to run its lifecycle scripts.
The --quiet flag suppresses diagnostic output when installing dependencies. When used with deno install, it will hide progress indicators, download information, and success messages.
$ deno install --quiet jsr:@std/http/file-server
This is useful for scripting environments or when you want cleaner output in CI pipelines.
You can uninstall dependencies or binary script with deno uninstall command:
$ deno uninstall express
Removed express
$ deno uninstall -g file-server
deleted /Users/deno/.deno/bin/file-server
✅ Successfully uninstalled file-server
© 2018–2025 the Deno authors
Licensed under the MIT License.
https://docs.deno.com/runtime/reference/cli/install