NPM Cheat Sheet

This cheat sheet includes commands which will help you while using NPM packages and modules.
Don’t worry about remembering all these NPM commands, Take a look at this cheat sheet whenever required.
Now go ahead and create something awesome.

Get Version

npm -v
npm --version

Get Help

npm
npm help

Create package.json

npm init
# Below commands will create package.json file with default values
npm init -y
npm init --yes

Set Defaults

npm config set init-author-name 'YOUR NAME'
npm config set init-license 'MIT'

Get Defaults

npm config get init-author-name
npm config get init-license

Remove Defaults

npm config delete init-author-name
npm config delete init-license

Install Packages

Globally

npm install -g package-name

Production dependency

npm install --save package-name

Development dependency

npm install --save-dev package-name

Install Certain Version

Globally

npm install -g package-name@package-version

Production dependency

npm install --save package-name@package-version

Development dependency

npm install --save-dev package-name@package-version

Update Packages

Globally

npm update -g package-name

Production dependency

npm update --save package-name

Development dependency

npm update --save-dev package-name

Remove Packages

Globally

npm uninstall -g package-name

Production dependency

npm uninstall --save package-name

Development dependency

npm uninstall --save-dev package-name

Move to Another Folder

NPM stores installed packages inside node_modules folder.
Most people usually doesn’t share node_modules folder along with their code, because you can easily install all the NPM packages they have used using below commands.

Install production and development dependencies.

npm install

Install production dependencies only.

npm install --production

Find Root Folder

Globally

npm root -g

Locally

npm root

List Packages

Globally

npm list -g
npm list -g --depth 0
npm list -g --depth 1

Locally

npm list
npm list --depth 0
npm list --depth 1

NPM Scripts

Define scripts in package.json file.

"scripts": {
  "start": "node index.js",
  "script-name":"command-to-run"
}

Run scripts

# Only "start" script will execute without run command
npm start
npm run script-name

Package Version

Find below, What package version with different symbols (*, ~, ^) represents in package.json file.

Most Preferred

"package-name": "^4.17.3"