Description

Commands like npm install and the dependency sections in the package.json use a package name specifier. This can be many different things that all refer to a "package". Examples include a package name, git url, tarball, or local directory. These will generally be referred to as <package-spec> in the help output for the npm commands that use this package name specifier.

Package name

• [<@scope>/]<pkg>
• [<@scope>/]<pkg>@<tag>
• [<@scope>/]<pkg>@<version>
• [<@scope>/]<pkg>@<version range>

Refers to a package by name, with or without a scope, and optionally tag, version, or version range. This is typically used in combination with the registry config to refer to a package in a registry.

Examples:

• npm
• @npmcli/arborist
• @npmcli/arborist@latest
• [email protected]
• npm@^4.0.0

Aliases

• <alias>@npm:<name>

Primarily used by commands like npm install and in the dependency sections in the package.json, this refers to a package by an alias. The <alias> is the name of the package as it is reified in the node_modules folder, and the <name> refers to a package name as found in the configured registry.

See Package name above for more info on referring to a package by name, and registry for configuring which registry is used when referring to a package by name.

Examples:

• semver:@npm:@npmcli/semver-with-patch
• semver:@npm:[email protected]
• semver:@npm:semver@legacy

Folders

• <folder>

This refers to a package on the local filesystem. Specifically this is a folder with a package.json file in it. This should always be prefixed with a / or ./ (or your OS equivalent) to reduce confusion. npm currently will parse a string with more than one / in it as a folder, but this is legacy behavior that may be removed in a future version.

Examples:

• ./my-package
• /opt/npm/my-package

Tarballs

• <tarball file>
• <tarball url>

Examples:

• ./my-package.tgz
• https://registry.npmjs.org/semver/-/semver-1.0.0.tgz

Refers to a package in a tarball format, either on the local filesystem or remotely via url. This is the format that packages exist in when uploaded to a registry.

git urls

• <git:// url>
• <github username>/<github project>

Refers to a package in a git repo. This can be a full git url, git shorthand, or a username/package on GitHub. You can specify a git tag, branch, or other git ref by appending #ref.

Examples:

• https://github.com/npm/cli.git
• [email protected]:npm/cli.git
• git+ssh://[email protected]/npm/cli#v6.0.0
• github:npm/cli#HEAD
• npm/cli#c12ea07

See also

npm-package-arg scope config