CONFIG(7)

📦
version 11.17.0 · 21 versions
, in centos-stream 10

🎀 NAME 🎀

Bestie, you've landed on CONFIG(7) — the npm config page ✨ buckle up, it's a long one, and this is only part 1 of 6 💖

Config — About npm configuration 👑

📖 Description 📖

Okay so this article is all about npm configuration in general, the whole vibe of it. Want the actual config command? That's a different page, go see npm help config 🫶

npm gets its configuration values from a bunch of different sources, and they're sorted by priority (most important first, no cap):

💻 Command Line Flags 💻

Putting --foo bar on the command line sets the foo configuration parameter to "bar". A -- argument tells the cli parser to stop reading flags, like "okay we're done here ✋". And using --flag without specifying any value will set the value to true — very "default to yes" of it.

Example time: --flag1 --flag2 will set both configuration parameters to true. Meanwhile --flag1 --flag2 bar will set flag1 to true, and flag2 to bar. And finally, --flag1 --flag2 -- bar will set both configuration parameters to true, and the bar is taken as a command argument 🎯

Common examples, since everybody asks:

  • npm install --prefix /path/to/dir — Runs npm commands in a different directory without changing the current working directory 🗂️
  • npm install --global — Installs packages globally (shorthand: -g) 🌍
  • npm install --save-dev — Saves to devDependencies (shorthand: -D) 🧪

Any configuration option documented in the (Config Settings) section below can be set via command line flags using the --option-name value syntax. Every single one. Go wild 💅

🌱 Environment Variables 🌱

Any environment variables that start with npm_config_ will be interpreted as a configuration parameter. Like, putting npm_config_foo=bar in your environment will set the foo configuration parameter to bar. Iconic.

Any environment configurations that are not given a value will be given the value of true. Config values are case-insensitive, so NPM_CONFIG_FOO=bar will work the same. However (and please note this, it's important), inside npm help scripts npm will set its own environment variables and Node will prefer those lowercase versions over any uppercase ones that you might set. For details see this issue ⟨https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/14528⟩ 👀

Notice that you need to use underscores instead of dashes, so --allow-same-version would become npm_config_allow_same_version=true. Dashes → underscores, that's the swap 🔁

Important: When defining custom configuration keys in .npmrc files, use hyphens instead of underscores (e.g., custom-key=value). This ensures they can be overridden by environment variables, since npm automatically converts underscores to hyphens when reading environment variables. Keys with underscores in .npmrc files cannot be overridden via environment variables. Fr fr, write the hyphens 😤

📄 npmrc Files 📄

The four relevant files are:

  • per-project configuration file (/path/to/my/project/.npmrc) 📁
  • per-user configuration file (defaults to $HOME/.npmrc; configurable via CLI option --userconfig or environment variable $NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG) 🏠
  • global configuration file (defaults to $PREFIX/etc/npmrc; configurable via CLI option --globalconfig or environment variable $NPM_CONFIG_GLOBALCONFIG) 🌐
  • npm's built-in configuration file (/path/to/npm/npmrc) 🧬

See npm help npmrc for more details 🫶

🧸 Default Configs 🧸

Run npm config ls -l to see a set of configuration parameters that are internal to npm, and are defaults if nothing else is specified. It's giving "look at all my factory settings" ✨

⌨️ Shorthands and Other CLI Niceties ⌨️

The following shorthands are parsed on the command-line:

  • -a: --all
  • --enjoy-by: --before
  • -c: --call
  • --desc: --description
  • -f: --force
  • -g: --global
  • --iwr: --include-workspace-root
  • -L: --location
  • -d: --loglevel info
  • -s: --loglevel silent
  • --silent: --loglevel silent
  • --ddd: --loglevel silly
  • --dd: --loglevel verbose
  • --verbose: --loglevel verbose
  • -q: --loglevel warn
  • --quiet: --loglevel warn
  • -l: --long
  • -m: --message
  • --local: --no-global
  • -n: --no-yes
  • --no: --no-yes
  • -p: --parseable
  • --porcelain: --parseable
  • -C: --prefix
  • --readonly: --read-only
  • --reg: --registry
  • -S: --save
  • -B: --save-bundle
  • -D: --save-dev
  • -E: --save-exact
  • -O: --save-optional
  • -P: --save-prod
  • -?: --usage
  • -h: --usage
  • -H: --usage
  • --help: --usage
  • -v: --version
  • -w: --workspace
  • --ws: --workspaces
  • -y: --yes

If the specified configuration param resolves unambiguously to a known configuration parameter, then it is expanded to that configuration parameter. Like so:

npm ls --par
# same as:
npm ls --parseable

And if multiple single-character shorthands are strung together, and the resulting combination is unambiguously not some other configuration param, then it is expanded to its various component pieces. Case in point:

npm ls -gpld
# same as:
npm ls --global --parseable --long --loglevel info

Combo moves, honestly 🔥

⚙️ Config Settings ⚙️

This is the big one, bestie. Every setting, every default, every type. Let's go 🏃‍♀️💨

🔐 _auth 🔐

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String

A basic-auth string to use when authenticating against the npm registry. This will ONLY be used to authenticate against the npm registry. For other registries you will need to scope it like "//other-registry.tld/:_auth" 🎯

Warning: This should generally not be set via a command-line option. It is safer to use a registry-provided authentication bearer token stored in the ~/.npmrc file by running npm login. Please don't put your secrets on the command line, I'm begging 😭

🚪 access 🚪

  • Default: 'public' for new packages, existing packages it will not change the current level
  • Type: null, "restricted", "public", or "private"

If you do not want your scoped package to be publicly viewable (and installable) set --access=restricted. Private queen behavior 💅

Unscoped packages cannot be set to restricted. Sorry, that's just the rules 🚫

Note: This defaults to not changing the current access level for existing packages. Specifying a value of restricted or public during publish will change the access for an existing package the same way that npm access set status would.

The value private is an alias for restricted — same thing, different font ✨

🌈 all 🌈

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Show or act on all packages, not just the ones your project directly depends on. For npm outdated and npm ls this lists every outdated or installed package. For npm approve-scripts and npm deny-scripts it selects every package with pending install scripts. The whole tree, no crumbs left behind 🧹

📂 allow-directory 📂

  • Default: "all"
  • Type: "all", "none", or "root"

Limits the ability for npm to install dependencies from directories. That is, dependencies that point to a directory instead of a version or semver range. Please note that this could leave your tree incomplete and some packages may not function as intended or designed 😬 Changing this setting will not remove dependencies that are already installed.

So: all allows any directories to be installed. none prevents any directories from being installed. root only allows directories defined in your project's package.json to be installed. Also allows directory dependencies to be used for other commands like npm view 👀

🗜️ allow-file 🗜️

  • Default: "all"
  • Type: "all", "none", or "root"

Limits the ability for npm to install dependencies from tarball files. That is, dependencies that point to a local tarball file instead of a version or semver range. Please note that this could leave your tree incomplete and some packages may not function as intended or designed 😬 Changing this setting will not remove dependencies that are already installed.

So: all allows any tarball file to be installed. none prevents any tarball file from being installed. root only allows tarball files defined in your project's package.json to be installed. Also allows tarball file dependencies to be used for other commands like npm view 📦

🧬 allow-git 🧬

  • Default: "all"
  • Type: "all", "none", or "root"

Limits the ability for npm to fetch dependencies from git references. That is, dependencies that point to a git repo instead of a version or semver range. Please note that this could leave your tree incomplete and some packages may not function as intended or designed 😬 Changing this setting will not remove dependencies that are already installed.

So: all allows any git dependencies to be fetched and installed. none prevents any git dependencies from being fetched and installed. root only allows git dependencies defined in your project's package.json to be fetched and installed. Also allows git dependencies to be fetched for other commands like npm view 🐙

🌍 allow-remote 🌍

  • Default: "all"
  • Type: "all", "none", or "root"

Limits the ability for npm to fetch dependencies from urls. That is, dependencies that point to a tarball url instead of a version or semver range. Please note that this could leave your tree incomplete and some packages may not function as intended or designed 😬 Changing this setting will not remove dependencies that are already installed.

So: all allows any url to be installed. none prevents any url from being installed. root only allows urls defined in your project's package.json to be installed. Also allows url dependencies to be used for other commands like npm view 🔗

🔁 allow-same-version 🔁

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Prevents throwing an error when npm version is used to set the new version to the same value as the current version. Basically "chill, it's the same version, that's fine" 😌

📜 allow-scripts 📜

  • Default: ""
  • Type: String (can be set multiple times)

Comma-separated list of packages whose install-time lifecycle scripts (preinstall, install, postinstall, and prepare for non-registry dependencies) are allowed to run. Let them cook 🍳

This setting is intended for one-off and global contexts: npm exec, npx, and npm install -g, where no project package.json is involved. For team-wide policy in a project, use the allowScripts field in package.json (which also supports explicit denials), or configure it in .npmrc. Passing --allow-scripts on the command line during a project-scoped npm install, ci, update, or rebuild is an error 🚨

Each name is matched against a dependency's resolved identity, not against the package's self-reported name. --ignore-scripts and --dangerously-allow-all-scripts both override this setting. Ik, very specific, but that's how it is 🫶

⏳ allow-scripts-pending ⏳

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

List packages with install scripts that are not yet covered by the allowScripts policy, without modifying package.json. Only meaningful for npm approve-scripts. It's giving "who's still waiting in line" 🧍

📌 allow-scripts-pin 📌

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

Write pinned (pkg@version) entries when approving install scripts. Set to false to write name-only entries that allow any version. Has no effect on npm deny-scripts, which always writes name-only entries regardless of this setting. Pin it down or don't, but deny-scripts is not budging 💀

🛡️ audit 🛡️

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

When it’s set to "true", npm submits audit reports alongside the current npm command to the default registry and all registries configured for scopes. See the docs for npm help audit for the deets on what gets submitted. 💖

audit-level 🔥

  • Default: null
  • Type: null, "info", "low", "moderate", "high", "critical", or "none"

The minimum level of vulnerability for npm audit to exit with a non-zero exit code. Basically: how spicy does a vuln have to be before npm is like “bestie, no.” 😭

auth-type 🎀

  • Default: "web"
  • Type: "legacy" or "web"

What authentication strategy to use with login. Note that if an otp config is given, this value will always be set to legacy. No cap, it just switches on you. 💅

before 🕰️

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or Date

If passed to npm install, will rebuild the npm tree such that only versions that were available on or before the given date are installed. If there are no versions available for the current set of dependencies, the command will error.

If the requested version is a dist-tag and the given tag does not pass the --before filter, the most recent version less than or equal to that tag will be used. For example, foo@latest might install foo@1.2 even though latest is 2.0.

If before and min-release-age are both set in the same source, before wins (an explicit absolute date overrides a relative window). Across sources, the standard precedence applies (cli > env > project > user > global), so a higher-priority source can always relax or override a lower-priority one.

Packages whose names match min-release-age-exclude are exempt from this filter. 🦋

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

Tells npm to create symlinks (or .cmd shims on Windows) for package executables.

Set to false to have it not do this. This can be used to work around the fact that some file systems don’t support symlinks, even on ostensibly Unix systems. Rude of them, honestly. 💀

browser 🌐

  • Default: macOS: "open", Windows: "start", Others: "xdg-open"
  • Type: null, Boolean, or String

The browser that is called by npm commands to open websites.

Set to false to suppress browser behavior and instead print urls to terminal.

Set to true to use default system URL opener. Slay, but make it CLI. ✨

bypass-2fa 🔐

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

When creating a Granular Access Token with npm token create, setting this to true will allow the token to bypass two-factor authentication. This is useful for automation and CI/CD workflows. Automations stay winning, fr fr. 🤖

ca 📜

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String (can be set multiple times)

The Certificate Authority signing certificate that is trusted for SSL connections to the registry. Values should be in PEM format (Windows calls it "Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)") with newlines replaced by the string "\n". For example:

ca="-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\nXXXX\nXXXX\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----"

Set to null to only allow "known" registrars, or to a specific CA cert to trust only that specific signing authority.

Multiple CAs can be trusted by specifying an array of certificates:

ca[]="..."
ca[]="..."

See also the strict-ssl config. 🫶

cache 🗂️

  • Default: Windows: %LocalAppData%\npm-cache, Posix: ~/.npm
  • Type: Path

The location of npm’s cache directory. That’s where the little package goblins live. 🧚

cafile 📁

  • Default: null
  • Type: Path

A path to a file containing one or multiple Certificate Authority signing certificates. Similar to the ca setting, but allows for multiple CA’s, as well as for the CA information to be stored in a file on disk. Iconic file-based behavior. 👑

call 📞

  • Default: ""
  • Type: String

Optional companion option for npm exec, npx that allows for specifying a custom command to be run along with the installed packages.

npm exec --package yo --package generator-node --call "yo node"

That’s the whole vibe: packages plus your custom command. 💖

cidr 🌈

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String (can be set multiple times)

This is a list of CIDR address to be used when configuring limited access tokens with the npm token create command. Networking bestie hours. 🛰️

color 🎨

  • Default: true unless the NO_COLOR environ is set to something other than '0'
  • Type: "always" or Boolean

If false, never shows colors. If "always" then always shows colors. If true, then only prints color codes for tty file descriptors. Respect the rainbow, but only where it belongs. 🌈

commit-hooks 🪝

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

Run git commit hooks when using the npm version command. Git said “not so fast,” and npm was like “okay, periodt.” 💅

cpu 🧠

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String

Override CPU architecture of native modules to install. Acceptable values are same as cpu field of package.json, which comes from process.arch. Very “know your architecture” of it. 🦋

dangerously-allow-all-scripts 💀

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If true, bypass the allowScripts policy entirely and run every dependency install script regardless of whether it was approved or denied. Intended as a migration escape hatch only; its use is strongly discouraged. --ignore-scripts still takes precedence over this setting.

Bestie, this one has “dangerously” in the name for a reason. Absolutely handle with care. 😭

depth 🕳️

  • Default: Infinity if --all is set; otherwise, 0
  • Type: null or Number

The depth to go when recursing packages for npm ls.

If not set, npm ls will show only the immediate dependencies of the root project. If --all is set, then npm will show all dependencies by default. Go deep or stay shallow, iykyk. 🌀

description 📝

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

Show the description in npm search. Tiny detail, big search vibes. ✨

diff 🪞

  • Default: (blank in the original)
  • Type: String (can be set multiple times)

Define arguments to compare in npm diff. Comparison era. 🎀

diff-dst-prefix 🏷️

  • Default: "b/"
  • Type: String

Destination prefix to be used in npm diff output. It’s giving “after” folder energy. 💖

diff-ignore-all-space 🌬️

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Ignore whitespace when comparing lines in npm diff. Spaces? Never heard of her. 😌

diff-name-only 📛

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Prints only filenames when using npm diff. Just the names, bestie. 💅

diff-no-prefix 🚫

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Do not show any source or destination prefix in npm diff output.

Note: this causes npm diff to ignore the --diff-src-prefix and --diff-dst-prefix configs. So yes, it really said “no prefixes, no exceptions.” 😭

diff-src-prefix 🏷️

  • Default: "a/"
  • Type: String

Source prefix to be used in npm diff output. It’s giving “before” folder energy. 🦋

diff-text 📄

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Treat all files as text in npm diff. Binary? Not today, bestie. 💀

diff-unified 📏

  • Default: 3
  • Type: Number

The number of lines of context to print in npm diff. Three lines of emotional support around every change. 🫶

dry-run 🧪

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Indicates that you don’t want npm to make any changes and that it should only report what it would have done. This can be passed into any of the commands that modify your local installation, eg, install, update, dedupe, uninstall, as well as pack and publish.

Note: This is NOT honored by other network related commands, eg dist-tags, owner, etc. So don’t get it twisted: dry-run is not a universal shield. 🔥

editor 📝

  • Default: The EDITOR or VISUAL environment variables, or '%SYSTEMROOT%\notepad.exe' on Windows, or 'vi' on Unix systems
  • Type: String

The command to run for npm edit and npm config edit. Your editor, your moment, your main character energy. 👑

engine-strict 🚦

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If set to true, then npm will stubbornly refuse to install (or even consider installing) any package that claims to not be compatible with the current Node.js version.

This can be overridden by setting the --force flag. Stubborn, but negotiable with force. 😭

expect-result-count 🔢

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or Number

Tells npm to expect a specific number of results from the command.

This config cannot be used with: expect-results. Pick a lane, bestie. 💅

expect-results ✅

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or Boolean

Tells npm whether or not to expect results from the command. Can be either true (expect some results) or false (expect no results).

This config cannot be used with: expect-result-count. Again: pick a lane. 💀

expires ⏳

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or Number

When creating a Granular Access Token with npm token create, this sets the expiration in days. If not specified, the server will determine the default expiration. The server gets to decide, and honestly? Let her. 🎀

fetch-retries 🔁

  • Default: 2
  • Type: Number

The "retries" config for the retry module to use when fetching packages from the registry.

npm will retry idempotent read requests to the registry in the case of network failures or 5xx HTTP errors. Network said “no,” npm said “try again.” 💅

fetch-retry-factor 📈

  • Default: 10
  • Type: Number

The "factor" config for the retry module to use when fetching packages. Exponential backoff but make it fashion. ✨

fetch-retry-maxtimeout ⏱️

  • Default: 60000 (1 minute)
  • Type: Number

The "maxTimeout" config for the retry module to use when fetching packages. Even retries have a limit, bestie. 😌

fetch-retry-mintimeout ⏱️

  • Default: 10000 (10 seconds)
  • Type: Number

The "minTimeout" config for the retry module to use when fetching packages. Gotta start somewhere. 🦋

fetch-timeout ⌛

  • Default: 300000 (5 minutes)
  • Type: Number

The maximum amount of time to wait for HTTP requests to complete. Five minutes of “hello?? are you there??” energy. 😭

force 💥

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Removes various protections against unfortunate side effects, common mistakes, unnecessary performance degradation, and malicious input. It’s the “remove the safety rails” config, and no, that is not a drill. 💀

  • Allow clobbering non-npm files in global installs.
  • Allow the npm version command to work on an unclean git repository.
  • Allow deleting the cache folder with npm cache clean.
  • Allow installing packages that have an engines declaration requiring a different version of npm.
  • Allow installing packages that have an engines declaration requiring a different version of node, even if --engine-strict is enabled.
  • Allow npm audit fix to install modules outside your stated dependency range (including SemVer-major changes).
  • Allow unpublishing all versions of a published package.
  • Allow conflicting peerDependencies to be installed in the root project.
  • Implicitly set --yes during npm init.
  • Allow clobbering existing values in npm pkg
  • Allow unpublishing of entire packages (not just a single version).
If you don’t have a clear idea of what you want to do, it is strongly recommended that you do not use this option! Bestie, please read that again. 😭🔥

foreground-scripts 🎬

  • Default: false unless when using npm pack or npm publish where it defaults to true
  • Type: Boolean

Run all build scripts (ie, preinstall, install, and postinstall) scripts for installed packages in the foreground process, sharing standard input, output, and error with the main npm process.

Note that this will generally make installs run slower, and be much noisier, but can be useful for debugging. Louder, slower, but sometimes that’s exactly the vibe you need. 🔍

format-package-lock 🧾

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

Format package-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.json as a human readable file. Human-readable lockfiles stay winning. 💖

fund 💸

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

When it's "true", npm hits you with that little message at the end of every npm install — the one being like "hey bestie, this many deps are out here looking for funding 💸". Peep npm help fund for the deets.

🧚 git

  • Default: "git"
  • Type: String

The command npm uses for git stuff. So like, if git is installed on the machine but it's not chillin' in the PATH? Then set this to the full path of the git binary. Easy.

🎀 git-tag-version

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

Tags the commit when you use the npm version command. Lowkey important: setting this to false means no commit gets made at all. Like, none. Zero. 🙈

👑 global

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Operates in "global" mode, which means packages get installed into the prefix folder instead of the current working directory. See npm help folders for all the behavioral tea ☕

  • packages go into the {prefix}/lib/node_modules folder, instead of the current working directory.
  • bin files get linked to {prefix}/bin
  • man pages get linked to {prefix}/share/man

🦋 globalconfig

  • Default: The global --prefix setting plus 'etc/npmrc'. For example, '/usr/local/etc/npmrc'
  • Type: Path

The config file to read for global config options. That's the whole vibe.

✨ heading

  • Default: "npm"
  • Type: String

The string that starts all the debugging log output. It's giving name tag at a party.

🌈 https-proxy

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or URL

A proxy to use for outgoing https requests. And listen — if the HTTPS_PROXY or https_proxy or HTTP_PROXY or http_proxy environment variables are set, proxy settings will be honored by the underlying make-fetch-happen library. iykyk 💅

🍓 if-present

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If true, npm will not exit with an error code when run is invoked for a script that isn't defined in the scripts section of package.json. This option is your bestie when it's desirable to optionally run a script when it's present and fail if the script fails. Like, super useful for example when running scripts that may only apply for some builds in an otherwise generic CI setup.

Heads up: this value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

💜 ignore-scripts

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If true, npm does not run scripts specified in package.json files. Periodt.

Note that commands explicitly intended to run a particular script — like npm start, npm stop, npm restart, npm test, and npm run — will still run their intended script if ignore-scripts is set, but they will not run any pre- or post-scripts. So like, the main character still shows up, but the entourage stays home 😭

🌸 include

  • Default:
  • Type: "prod", "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)

Option that lets you define which types of dependencies to install. It's literally the inverse of --omit=<type>.

Dependency types specified in --include will not be omitted, regardless of the order in which omit/include are specified on the command-line. Order doesn't matter, bestie, it ate.

🔥 include-attestations

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

When used with npm audit signatures --json, includes the full sigstore attestation bundles in the JSON output for each verified package. Those bundles contain DSSE envelopes, verification material, and transparency log entries. Very forensic of you 🕵️‍♀️

⭐ include-staged

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Allow installing "staged" published packages, as defined by npm RFC PR #92 ⟨https://github.com/npm/rfcs/pull/92⟩.

This is experimental, and not implemented by the npm public registry. So like, don't count on it fr fr.

🧚 include-workspace-root

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.

When false, specifying individual workspaces via the workspace config, or all workspaces via the workspaces flag, will cause npm to operate only on the specified workspaces, and not on the root project. Root stays uninvited to the party 🙅‍♀️

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

🎀 init-author-email

  • Default: ""
  • Type: String

The value npm init should use by default for the package author's email.

🎀 init-author-name

  • Default: ""
  • Type: String

The value npm init should use by default for the package author's name.

🎀 init-author-url

  • Default: ""
  • Type: "" or URL

The value npm init should use by default for the package author's homepage.

🎀 init-license

  • Default: "ISC"
  • Type: String

The value npm init should use by default for the package license.

🎀 init-module

  • Default: "~/.npm-init.js"
  • Type: Path

A module that will be loaded by the npm init command. See the documentation for the init-package-json ⟨https://github.com/npm/init-package-json⟩ module for more information, or npm help init.

🎀 init-private

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

The value npm init should use by default for the package's private flag.

🎀 init-type

  • Default: "commonjs"
  • Type: String

The value that npm init should use by default for the package.json type field.

🎀 init-version

  • Default: "1.0.0"
  • Type: SemVer string

The value that npm init should use by default for the package version number, if it's not already set in package.json.

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

When set, file: protocol dependencies will be packed and installed as regular dependencies instead of creating a symlink. Ngl, this option has no effect on workspaces.

💅 install-strategy

  • Default: "hoisted"
  • Type: "hoisted", "nested", "shallow", or "linked"

Sets the strategy for installing packages in node_modules. Pick your fighter:

  • hoisted (default): Install non-duplicated in top-level, and duplicated as necessary within directory structure.
  • nested (formerly --legacy-bundling): install in place, no hoisting.
  • shallow (formerly --global-style): only install direct deps at top-level.
  • linked (experimental): install in node_modules/.store, link in place, unhoisted.

🌈 json

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Whether or not to output JSON data, rather than the normal output.

  • In npm pkg set it enables parsing set values with JSON.parse() before saving them to your package.json.
Not supported by all npm commands. Vibe check your command first bestie.

🌸 legacy-peer-deps

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Causes npm to completely ignore peerDependencies when building a package tree, as in npm versions 3 through 6. Throwback era 😭

If a package can't be installed because of overly strict peerDependencies that collide, this gives you a way to move forward resolving the situation.

This differs from --omit=peer, in that --omit=peer will avoid unpacking peerDependencies on disk, but will still design a tree such that peerDependencies could be unpacked in a correct place.

Use of legacy-peer-deps is not recommended, as it will not enforce the peerDependencies contract that meta-dependencies may rely on. Like, it's lowkey breaking the rules on purpose 💀

🍓 libc

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String

Override libc of native modules to install. Acceptable values are same as libc field of package.json.

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Used with npm ls, limiting output to only those packages that are linked. Just the linked girlies 💅

🔥 local-address

  • Default: null
  • Type: IP Address

The IP address of the local interface to use when making connections to the npm registry. Must be IPv4 in versions of Node prior to 0.12. Ancient history, but okay 👑

💜 location

  • Default: "user" unless --global is passed, which will also set this value to "global"
  • Type: "global", "user", or "project"

When passed to npm config this refers to which config file to use.

When set to "global" mode, packages are installed into the prefix folder instead of the current working directory. See npm help folders for more on the differences in behavior.

  • packages are installed into the {prefix}/lib/node_modules folder, instead of the current working directory.
  • bin files are linked to {prefix}/bin
  • man pages are linked to {prefix}/share/man

🌈 lockfile-version

  • Default: Version 3 if no lockfile, auto-converting v1 lockfiles to v3; otherwise, maintain current lockfile version.
  • Type: null, 1, 2, 3, "1", "2", or "3"

Set the lockfile format version to be used in package-lock.json and npm-shrinkwrap-json files. Possible options are:

  • 1: The lockfile version used by npm versions 5 and 6. Lacks some data that is used during the install, resulting in slower and possibly less deterministic installs. Prevents lockfile churn when interoperating with older npm versions.
  • 2: The default lockfile version used by npm version 7 and 8. Includes both the version 1 lockfile data and version 3 lockfile data, for maximum determinism and interoperability, at the expense of more bytes on disk.
  • 3: Only the new lockfile information introduced in npm version 7. Smaller on disk than lockfile version 2, but not interoperable with older npm versions. Ideal if all users are on npm version 7 and higher.

✨ loglevel

  • Default: "notice"
  • Type: "silent", "error", "warn", "notice", "http", "info", "verbose", or "silly"

What level of logs to report. All logs are written to a debug log, with the path to that file printed if the execution of a command fails.

Any logs of a higher level than the setting are shown. The default is "notice".

See also the foreground-scripts config. 🫶

🎀 logs-dir

  • Default: A directory named _logs inside the cache
  • Type: null or Path

The location of npm's log directory. See npm help logging for more information.

🎀 logs-max

  • Default: 10
  • Type: Number

The maximum number of log files to store.

If set to 0, no log files will be written for the current run. Zero logging, zero evidence 😌

🦋 long

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Show extended information in ls, search, and help-search. Give me the full lore.

👑 maxsockets

  • Default: 15
  • Type: Number

The maximum number of connections to use per origin (protocol/host/port combination). Gotta cap it or the sockets get feral.

💜 message

  • Default: "%s"
  • Type: String

Commit message which is used by npm version when creating version commit.

Any "%s" in the message will be replaced with the version number. Cute little placeholder moment 🥺

🌸 min-release-age

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or Number

If set, npm will build the npm tree such that only versions that were available more than the given number of days ago will be installed. So like, no fresh-out-the-oven packages for you — patience is a virtue bestie.

If there are no versions available for the current set of dependencies, the command will error. Yeah. It just gives up 💀

Okay so this flag is the complement to before, which takes an exact date instead of a relative number of days. They can lowkey coexist — like when min-release-age in your .npmrc is preserved while npm internally spawns a sub-process with --before while prepping a git: or github: dependency. And when both apply, before wins within a single source; across sources, the standard precedence rules do their thing. 💅

Packages whose names match min-release-age-exclude are exempt from this filter.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes. 🙅‍♀️

min-release-age-exclude

  • Default:
  • Type: String (can be set multiple times)

A list of package names or minimatch glob patterns that are exempt from the min-release-age (and before) filter. A matching package can always resolve to its newest version, even when a release-age window is set. ✨

For example, to apply a release-age window to third-party dependencies while letting internally maintained packages update immediately:

min-release-age=7
min-release-age-exclude[]=@myorg/*
min-release-age-exclude[]=my-internal-pkg

Only the named package is exempt; its own dependencies still follow the release-age policy unless they also match a pattern. Patterns match against the package name, so @myorg/* matches @myorg/shared-utils.

Excluding a package does not change which registry it is fetched from. You should own your private scope on the public registry so that nobody else can publish a package with the same name. 👑

Again: this value is not exported to the environment for child processes. 🫶

name

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String

When creating a Granular Access Token with npm token create, this sets the name/description for the token.

node-gyp

  • Default: The path to the node-gyp bin that ships with npm
  • Type: Path

This is the location of the node-gyp bin. By default it uses one that ships with npm itself.

You can use this config to specify your own node-gyp to run when it is required to build a package.

node-options

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String

Options to pass through to Node.js via the NODE_OPTIONS environment variable. This does not impact how npm itself is executed, but it does impact how lifecycle scripts are called.

noproxy

  • Default: The value of the NO_PROXY environment variable
  • Type: String (can be set multiple times)

Domain extensions that should bypass any proxies.

Also accepts a comma-delimited string.

offline

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Force offline mode: no network requests will be done during install. To allow the CLI to fill in missing cache data, see --prefer-offline.

omit

  • Default: 'dev' if the NODE_ENV environment variable is set to 'production'; otherwise, empty.
  • Type: "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)

Dependency types to omit from the installation tree on disk.

Note that these dependencies are still resolved and added to the package-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.json file. They are just not physically installed on disk.

If a package type appears in both the --include and --omit lists, then it will be included.

If the resulting omit list includes 'dev', then the NODE_ENV environment variable will be set to 'production' for all lifecycle scripts.

omit-lockfile-registry-resolved

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

This option causes npm to create lock files without a resolved key for registry dependencies. Subsequent installs will need to resolve tarball endpoints with the configured registry, likely resulting in a longer install time.

orgs

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String (can be set multiple times)

When creating a Granular Access Token with npm token create, this limits the token access to specific organizations.

orgs-permission

  • Default: null
  • Type: null, "read-only", "read-write", or "no-access"

When creating a Granular Access Token with npm token create, sets the permission level for organizations. Options are "read-only", "read-write", or "no-access".

os

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String

Override OS of native modules to install. Acceptable values are same as os field of package.json, which comes from process.platform.

otp

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String

This is a one-time password from a two-factor authenticator. It's needed when publishing or changing package permissions with npm access.

If not set, and a registry response fails with a challenge for a one-time password, npm will prompt on the command line for one.

pack-destination

  • Default: "."
  • Type: String

Directory in which npm pack will save tarballs.

package

  • Default:
  • Type: String (can be set multiple times)

The package or packages to install for npm help exec

package-lock

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

If set to false, then ignore package-lock.json files when installing. This will also prevent writing package-lock.json if save is true.

package-lock-only

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If set to true, the current operation will only use the package-lock.json, ignoring node_modules.

For update this means only the package-lock.json will be updated, instead of checking node_modules and downloading dependencies.

For list this means the output will be based on the tree described by the package-lock.json, rather than the contents of node_modules.

packages

  • Default:
  • Type: null or String (can be set multiple times)

When creating a Granular Access Token with npm token create, this limits the token access to specific packages.

packages-all

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

When creating a Granular Access Token with npm token create, grants the token access to all packages instead of limiting to specific packages.

packages-and-scopes-permission

  • Default: null
  • Type: null, "read-only", "read-write", or "no-access"

When creating a Granular Access Token with npm token create, sets the permission level for packages and scopes. Options are "read-only", "read-write", or "no-access".

parseable

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Output parseable results from commands that write to standard output. For npm search, this will be tab-separated table format.

password

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String

Password for authentication. Can be provided via command line when creating tokens, though it's generally safer to be prompted for it.

prefer-dedupe

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Prefer to deduplicate packages if possible, rather than choosing a newer version of a dependency.

prefer-offline

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If true, staleness checks for cached data will be bypassed, but missing data will be requested from the server. To force full offline mode, use --offline.

prefer-online

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If true, staleness checks for cached data will be forced, making the CLI look for updates immediately even for fresh package data.

prefix

  • Default: In global mode, the folder where the node executable is installed. Otherwise, the nearest parent folder containing either a package.json file or a node_modules folder.
  • Type: Path

The location to install global items. If set on the command line, then it forces non-global commands to run in the specified folder.

preid

  • Default: ""
  • Type: String

The "prerelease identifier" to use as a prefix for the "prerelease" part of a semver. Like the rc in 1.2.0-rc.8.

progress

  • Default: true when not in CI and both stderr and stdout are TTYs and not in a dumb terminal
  • Type: Boolean

When set to true, npm will display a progress bar during time intensive operations, if process.stderr and process.stdout are a TTY.

Set to false to suppress the progress bar.

provenance

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

When publishing from a supported cloud CI/CD system, the package will be publicly linked to where it was built and published from.

This config cannot be used with: provenance-file

provenance-file

  • Default: null
  • Type: Path

When publishing, the provenance bundle at the given path will be used.

This config cannot be used with: provenance

proxy

  • Default: null
  • Type: null, false, or URL

A proxy to use for outgoing http requests. If the HTTP_PROXY or http_proxy environment variables are set, proxy settings will be honored by the underlying request library.

read-only

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

This is used to mark a token as unable to publish when configuring limited access tokens with the npm token create command.

rebuild-bundle

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

Rebuild bundled dependencies after installation.

registry

The base URL of the npm registry.

replace-registry-host

  • Default: "npmjs"
  • Type: "npmjs", "never", "always", or String

Defines behavior for replacing the registry host in a lockfile with the configured registry.

The default behavior is to replace package dist URLs from the default registry (https://registry.npmjs.org) to the configured registry. If set to "never", then use the registry value. If set to "always", then replace the registry host with the configured host every time.

You may also specify a bare hostname (e.g., "registry.npmjs.org").

save

  • Default: true unless when using npm update where it defaults to false
  • Type: Boolean

Save installed packages to a package.json file as dependencies.

When used with the npm rm command, removes the dependency from package.json.

Will also prevent writing to package-lock.json if set to false.

save-bundle

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If a package would be saved at install time by the use of --save, --save-dev, or --save-optional, then also put it in the bundleDependencies list.

Ignored if --save-peer is set, since peerDependencies cannot be bundled.

save-dev

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Save installed packages to a package.json file as devDependencies.

This config cannot be used with: save-optional, save-peer, save-prod

save-exact

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Dependencies saved to package.json will be configured with an exact version rather than using npm's default semver range operator.

save-optional

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Save installed packages to a package.json file as optionalDependencies.

This config cannot be used with: save-dev, save-peer, save-prod

save-peer

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Saves installed packages into your package.json file as peerDependencies. Basically peer energy only 👑

This config cannot be used with: save-dev, save-optional, save-prod

save-prefix

  • Default: "^"
  • Type: String

This is the little guy that decides how versions get prefixed when you install stuff into a package.json via --save or --save-dev. 🎀

So real talk: if a package is at version 1.2.3, the default behavior sets it to ^1.2.3, which is the "go ahead and let minor upgrades happen" vibe for that package. But if you run:

npm config set save-prefix='~'

then it'd be set to ~1.2.3 instead, which only allows patch upgrades. Pick your fighter ✨

save-prod

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Saves installed packages into dependencies specifically. Extremely useful if a package is already chillin' in devDependencies or optionalDependencies but you want to move it to be a non-optional production dependency. glow-up 💅

This is the default behavior if --save is true and neither --save-dev nor --save-optional are true.

This config cannot be used with: save-dev, save-optional, save-peer

sbom-format

  • Default: null
  • Type: "cyclonedx" or "spdx"

The SBOM format to use when generating SBOMs. Pick your alphabet soup 🍜

sbom-type

  • Default: "library"
  • Type: "library", "application", or "framework"

The type of package being described by the generated SBOM. For SPDX, this is the value for the primaryPackagePurpose field. For CycloneDX, this is the value for the type field. iykyk 🧚

scope

  • Default: the scope of the current project, if any, or ""
  • Type: String

Associates an operation with a scope for a scoped registry. This is the icon behavior when you're logging in to or out of a private registry:

# log in, linking the scope to the custom registry
npm login --scope=@mycorp --registry=https://registry.mycorp.com

# log out, removing the link and the auth token
npm logout --scope=@mycorp

This will cause @mycorp to be mapped to the registry for future installation of packages specified according to the pattern @mycorp/package. 🔗

This will also cause npm init to create a scoped package:

# accept all defaults, and create a package named "@foo/whatever",
# instead of just named "whatever"
npm init --scope=@foo --yes

scopes

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String (can be set multiple times)

When you're creating a Granular Access Token with npm token create, this limits the token access to specific scopes. Just give it a scope name (with or without the @ prefix). Keep it tight, bestie 🔒

script-shell

  • Default: '/bin/sh' on POSIX systems, 'cmd.exe' on Windows
  • Type: null or String

The shell used for scripts run with the npm exec, npm run and npm init <package-spec> commands. 🐚

searchexclude

  • Default: ""
  • Type: String

Space-separated options that limit the results from search. Like a lil bouncer for your search results 🚪

searchlimit

  • Default: 20
  • Type: Number

Number of items to limit search results to. Heads up: this does not apply at all to legacy searches. 💀

searchopts

  • Default: ""
  • Type: String

Space-separated options that are always passed to search. Every single time. no cap.

searchstaleness

  • Default: 900
  • Type: Number

The age of the cache, in seconds, before another registry request gets made — but only if you're using the legacy search endpoint. ⏰

shell

  • Default: SHELL environment variable, or "bash" on Posix, or "cmd.exe" on Windows
  • Type: String

The shell to run for the npm explore command. 🐌

sign-git-commit

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If set to true, then the npm version command will commit the new package version using -S to add a signature. 🔏

Heads up bestie: git requires you to have set up GPG keys in your git configs for this to work properly. No GPG keys, no signature, that's just how it is.

sign-git-tag

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If set to true, then the npm version command will tag the version using -s to add a signature. 🏷️

Same deal as above: git requires you to have set up GPG keys in your git configs for this to work properly.

strict-allow-scripts

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If true, this turns the install-script policy from a warning into a hard error — any dependency with install scripts not covered by allowScripts will fail the install instead of running with a notice. it's giving zero tolerance 🚨

Dependencies explicitly denied with false in allowScripts are always silently skipped; this setting only affects unreviewed entries. And both --ignore-scripts and --dangerously-allow-all-scripts override this setting. Periodt.

strict-peer-deps

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If set to true, and --legacy-peer-deps is not set, then any conflicting peerDependencies get treated as an install failure — even if npm could reasonably guess the appropriate resolution based on non-peer dependency relationships. no vibes-based guessing allowed 😤

By default, conflicting peerDependencies deep in the dependency graph will be resolved using the nearest non-peer dependency specification, even if doing so results in some packages receiving a peer dependency outside the range set in their package's peerDependencies object.

When such an override is performed, a warning gets printed explaining the conflict and the packages involved. If --strict-peer-deps is set, then this warning is treated as a failure. 🔥

strict-ssl

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

Whether or not to do SSL key validation when making requests to the registry via https. 🛡️

See also the ca config.

tag

  • Default: "latest"
  • Type: String

If you ask npm to install a package and don't tell it a specific version, then it installs the specified tag. The default main character of tags: latest ✨

It's also the tag added to the package@version specified in the npm dist-tag add command, if no explicit tag is given.

When used by the npm diff command, this is the tag used to fetch the tarball that will be compared with the local files by default.

And if used in the npm publish command, this is the tag that gets added to the package submitted to the registry. 🎀

tag-version-prefix

  • Default: "v"
  • Type: String

If set, this alters the prefix used when tagging a new version while performing a version increment using npm version. To remove the prefix altogether, set it to the empty string: "".

Because other tools may rely on the convention that npm version tags look like v1.0.0, only use this property if it is absolutely necessary. In particular, use care when overriding this setting for public packages. Like, be so careful. 🙈

timing

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If true, writes timing information to a process-specific json file in the cache or logs-dir. The file name ends with -timing.json. ⏱️

You can quickly view it with this json (https://npm.im/json) command line:

cat ~/.npm/_logs/*-timing.json | npm exec -- json -g

Timing information will also be reported in the terminal. To suppress this while still writing the timing file, use --silent. 🤫

token-description

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or String

Description text for the token when using npm token create. Give your token a lil personality 📝

umask

  • Default: 0
  • Type: Octal numeric string in range 0000..0777 (0..511)

The "umask" value to use when setting the file creation mode on files and folders. 🔐

Here's the math, bestie: folders and executables are given a mode which is 0o777 masked against this value. Other files are given a mode which is 0o666 masked against this value.

Note that the underlying system will also apply its own umask value to files and folders that are created, and npm does not circumvent this — it rather adds the --umask config to it. So they stack, basically.

Thus, the effective default umask value on most POSIX systems is 0o22, meaning folders and executables are created with a mode of 0o755 and other files are created with a mode of 0o644. math ate 💅

unicode

  • Default: false on windows, true on mac/unix systems with a unicode locale, as defined by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG environment variables.
  • Type: Boolean

When set to true, npm uses unicode characters in the tree output. When false, it uses ascii characters instead of unicode glyphs. pretty tree vs. plain tree 🌈

update-notifier

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

Set to false to suppress the update notification when you're using an older version of npm than the latest. Sometimes you just don't wanna hear it 😭

usage

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

Show short usage output about the command specified. lil cheat sheet 📖

user-agent

  • Default: "npm/{npm-version} node/{node-version} {platform} {arch} workspaces/{workspaces} {ci}"
  • Type: String

Sets the User-Agent request header. The following fields get replaced with their actual counterparts: 🕵️

  • {npm-version} — The npm version in use
  • {node-version} — The Node.js version in use
  • {platform} — The value of process.platform
  • {arch} — The value of process.arch
  • {workspaces} — Set to true if the workspaces or workspace options are set.
  • {ci} — The value of the ci-name config, if set, prefixed with ci/, or an empty string if ci-name is empty.

userconfig

  • Default: "~/.npmrc"
  • Type: Path

The location of user-level configuration settings. 🏠

This may be overridden by the npm_config_userconfig environment variable or the --userconfig command line option — but it may not be overridden by settings in the globalconfig file. Read that again, it matters.

version

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If true, output the npm version and exit successfully. ✅

Only relevant when specified explicitly on the command line.

versions

  • Default: false
  • Type: Boolean

If true, output the npm version as well as node's process.versions map and the version in the current working directory's package.json file if one exists, then exit successfully. the whole receipts 🧾

Only relevant when specified explicitly on the command line.

viewer

  • Default: "man" on Posix, "browser" on Windows
  • Type: String

The program to use to view help content. 👀

Set it to "browser" to view html help content in the default web browser. very demure, very web

which

  • Default: null
  • Type: null or Number

If there are multiple funding sources, which 1-indexed source URL to open. Yeah, they count from 1. Don't @ me 💸

workspace

  • Default:
  • Type: String (can be set multiple times)

Enables running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of the current project, while filtering by running only the workspaces defined by this configuration option. 🗂️

Valid values for the workspace config are either:

  • Workspace names
  • Path to a workspace directory
  • Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all workspaces within that folder)

Okay bestie, last stretch — this is where all the deprecated stuff lives, so just vibe with it and don't @ me 💅

When you set this for the npm init command, you can point it at the folder of a workspace that doesn't exist yet — and it'll create that folder and set it up as a brand new workspace inside your project. Slay.

Keep in mind: this value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

  • workspaces
    • Default: null
    • Type: null or Boolean

Set this to true and the command runs in the context of all your configured workspaces. All of them. The whole squad.

If you explicitly set it to false, commands like install will straight-up ignore workspaces. Nothing. Zero. Bye.

When it's not set explicitly:

  • Commands that operate on the node_modules tree (install, update, etc.) will link workspaces into the node_modules folder.
  • Commands that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the root project, unless one or more workspaces are specified in the workspace config.

And just like the last one: this value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

  • workspaces-update
    • Default: true
    • Type: Boolean

If this is true, the npm cli will run an update after operations that may possibly change the workspaces installed to the node_modules folder. Lowkey tidy of it tbh.

  • yes
    • Default: null
    • Type: null or Boolean

Automatically answers "yes" to any prompts that npm might print on the command line. Main character energy: no questions, just yes. ✨

🫠 the deprecated zone 🫠

Everything below here is get it off my screen-era npm lore. It still exists, it still works (mostly), but bestie, please use the modern flag. fr fr.

  • also
    • Default: null
    • Type: null, "dev", or "development"
    • DEPRECATED: Please use --include=dev instead.

When set to dev or development, this is an alias for --include=dev. That's it. That's the whole job.

  • cache-max
    • Default: Infinity
    • Type: Number
    • DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of --prefer-online

Now listen: --cache-max=0 is an alias for --prefer-online. Cute, right? 🙈

  • cache-min
    • Default: 0
    • Type: Number
    • DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of --prefer-offline.

And --cache-min=9999 (or bigger) is an alias for --prefer-offline. Bigger, queen. Go bigger. 👑

  • cert
    • Default: null
    • Type: null or String
    • DEPRECATED: key and cert are no longer used for most registry operations. Use registry scoped keyfile and certfile instead. Example: //other-registry.tld/:keyfile=/path/to/key.pem //other-registry.tld/:certfile=/path/to/cert.crt

A client certificate to pass when accessing the registry. Values should be in PEM format (Windows calls it "Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)") with newlines replaced by the string "\n". Like, literally the two characters backslash and n. For example:

cert="-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\nXXXX\nXXXX\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----"

Heads up 🚨: it is not the path to a certificate file, though you can set a registry-scoped "certfile" path like "//other-registry.tld/:certfile=/path/to/cert.pem".

  • dev
    • Default: false
    • Type: Boolean
    • DEPRECATED: Please use --include=dev instead.

Alias for --include=dev. Simple as.

  • global-style
    • Default: false
    • Type: Boolean
    • DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of --install-strategy=shallow

Only install direct dependencies in the top level node_modules, but hoist on deeper dependencies. Sets --install-strategy=shallow. Shallow, like the vibes of whoever wrote this option.

  • init.author.email
    • Default: ""
    • Type: String
    • DEPRECATED: Use --init-author-email instead.

Alias for --init-author-email

  • init.author.name
    • Default: ""
    • Type: String
    • DEPRECATED: Use --init-author-name instead.

Alias for --init-author-name

  • init.author.url
    • Default: ""
    • Type: "" or URL
    • DEPRECATED: Use --init-author-url instead.

Alias for --init-author-url

  • init.license
    • Default: "ISC"
    • Type: String
    • DEPRECATED: Use --init-license instead.

Alias for --init-license

  • init.module
    • Default: "~/.npm-init.js"
    • Type: Path
    • DEPRECATED: Use --init-module instead.

Alias for --init-module

  • init.version
    • Default: "1.0.0"
    • Type: SemVer string
    • DEPRECATED: Use --init-version instead.

Alias for --init-version

  • key
    • Default: null
    • Type: null or String
    • DEPRECATED: key and cert are no longer used for most registry operations. Use registry scoped keyfile and certfile instead. Example: //other-registry.tld/:keyfile=/path/to/key.pem //other-registry.tld/:certfile=/path/to/cert.crt

A client key to pass when accessing the registry. Values should be in PEM format with newlines replaced by the string "\n". For example:

key="-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\nXXXX\nXXXX\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----"

And again, say it with me 🗣️: it is not the path to a key file, though you can set a registry-scoped "keyfile" path like "//other-registry.tld/:keyfile=/path/to/key.pem".

  • legacy-bundling
    • Default: false
    • Type: Boolean
    • DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of --install-strategy=nested

Instead of hoisting package installs in node_modules, install packages in the same manner that they are depended on. Fair warning bestie 💀: this may cause very deep directory structures and duplicate package installs as there is no de-duplicating. Sets --install-strategy=nested.

  • only
    • Default: null
    • Type: null, "prod", or "production"
    • DEPRECATED: Use --omit=dev to omit dev dependencies from the install.

When set to prod or production, this is an alias for --omit=dev.

  • optional
    • Default: null
    • Type: null or Boolean
    • DEPRECATED: Use --omit=optional to exclude optional dependencies, or --include=optional to include them.

The default value does install optional deps unless otherwise omitted. No surprises there.

Alias for --include=optional or --omit=optional

  • production
    • Default: null
    • Type: null or Boolean
    • DEPRECATED: Use --omit=dev instead.

Alias for --omit=dev

  • shrinkwrap
    • Default: true
    • Type: Boolean
    • DEPRECATED: Use the --package-lock setting instead.

Alias for --package-lock

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

Go read these next, they're literally iconic:

  • npm help config
  • npm help npmrc
  • npm help scripts
  • npm help folders
  • npm help npm

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀✨

This lil masterpiece ships as NPM@11.17.0, dated June 2026, and lives at CONFIG(7) — go forth and configure responsibly 💜🦋

📦 where this page comes from