Commands Reference

1. Package Lifecycle Commands

• npm init – Starts an interactive wizard to create a package.json.
  Example: npm init or npm init -y to skip prompts.
• npm init <template> – Generates a package.json from a template.
  Example: npm init @npmcli/init.
• npm install <pkg> – Installs a package locally and records it in dependencies.
  Example: npm install lodash.
• npm i <pkg>@<version> – Installs a specific version (alias for install).
  Example: npm i express@4.17.1.
• npm install <pkg> --save-dev – Adds a package to devDependencies.
  Example: npm i jest --save-dev.
• npm install <pkg> --global – Installs a package globally.
  Example: npm i -g typescript.
• npm uninstall <pkg> – Removes a package from node_modules and package.json.
  Example: npm uninstall lodash.
• npm update <pkg> – Updates a package to the latest compatible version.
  Example: npm update express.
• npm outdated – Lists packages with newer releases available.
• npm list – Shows the dependency tree of installed packages.
• npm dedupe – Eliminates duplicate packages in the tree.
• npm prune – Removes extraneous packages not listed in package.json.
• npm pack – Creates a tarball of the package for publishing.
• npm publish – Publishes the package to the npm registry.
• npm version <newversion> – Bumps the version in package.json and creates a git tag.
  Example: npm version patch (can also use minor or major).
• npm ci – Installs dependencies from package-lock.json in a clean environment; requires a lock file.
• npm run <script> – Executes a script defined in package.json.
  Example: npm run build.
• npm test – Runs the test script (npm run test).
• npm start – Runs the start script.
• npm stop – Runs the stop script (rarely used).
• npm restart – Runs the restart script (rarely used).

2. Configuration Commands

• npm config set <key> <value> – Sets a configuration value.
  Example: npm config set registry https://registry.npmjs.org/.
• npm config get <key> – Retrieves a configuration value.
• npm config delete <key> – Removes a configuration value.
• npm config list – Lists all configuration values.
• npm config edit – Opens the config file in your default editor.

3. Authentication & Registry Commands

• npm login – Authenticates with the registry (prompts for email, username, password).
• npm logout – Logs out from the registry.
• npm whoami – Shows the current logged‑in user.
• npm adduser – Creates a new npm account or logs in.
• npm team – Manages teams for a scoped package.
• npm owner – Manages owners of a package.

4. Package Information Commands

• npm view <pkg> – Shows metadata for a package.
• npm view <pkg> <field> – Shows a specific field of the metadata.
• npm search <term> – Searches the registry for packages.
• npm info <pkg> – Alias for npm view.

5. Auditing & Security Commands

• npm audit – Runs a security audit of installed packages.
• npm audit fix – Attempts to automatically fix vulnerabilities.
• npm audit fix --force – Forces fixes that may introduce breaking changes.

6. Miscellaneous & Utility Commands

• npm cache clean --force – Clears the npm cache (deprecated; use npm cache verify).
• npm cache verify – Verifies the integrity of the cache.
• npm link – Creates a symlink for a local package (useful for local development).
• npm unlink – Removes a symlink.
• npm completion – Generates shell completion scripts for bash, zsh, fish, etc.
• npm help <command> – Shows help for a specific command.
• npm help – Shows general help.

7. Deprecated / Legacy Commands

• npm add (alias for npm install)
• npm rm (alias for npm uninstall)
• npm ls (alias for npm list)

These legacy commands remain for backward compatibility but are superseded by their modern counterparts.