1--- 2section: cli-commands 3title: npm-init 4description: create a package.json file 5--- 6 7# npm-init(1) 8 9## create a package.json file 10 11### Synopsis 12```bash 13npm init [--force|-f|--yes|-y|--scope] 14npm init <@scope> (same as `npx <@scope>/create`) 15npm init [<@scope>/]<name> (same as `npx [<@scope>/]create-<name>`) 16``` 17 18### Examples 19 20Create a new React-based project using [`create-react-app`](https://npm.im/create-react-app): 21```bash 22$ npm init react-app ./my-react-app 23``` 24 25Create a new `esm`-compatible package using [`create-esm`](https://npm.im/create-esm): 26```bash 27$ mkdir my-esm-lib && cd my-esm-lib 28$ npm init esm --yes 29``` 30 31Generate a plain old package.json using legacy init: 32```bash 33$ mkdir my-npm-pkg && cd my-npm-pkg 34$ git init 35$ npm init 36``` 37 38Generate it without having it ask any questions: 39```bash 40$ npm init -y 41``` 42 43### Description 44 45`npm init <initializer>` can be used to set up a new or existing npm package. 46 47`initializer` in this case is an npm package named `create-<initializer>`, which 48will be installed by [`npx`](https://npm.im/npx), and then have its main bin 49executed -- presumably creating or updating `package.json` and running any other 50initialization-related operations. 51 52The init command is transformed to a corresponding `npx` operation as follows: 53 54* `npm init foo` -> `npx create-foo` 55* `npm init @usr/foo` -> `npx @usr/create-foo` 56* `npm init @usr` -> `npx @usr/create` 57 58Any additional options will be passed directly to the command, so `npm init foo 59--hello` will map to `npx create-foo --hello`. 60 61If the initializer is omitted (by just calling `npm init`), init will fall back 62to legacy init behavior. It will ask you a bunch of questions, and then write a 63package.json for you. It will attempt to make reasonable guesses based on 64existing fields, dependencies, and options selected. It is strictly additive, so 65it will keep any fields and values that were already set. You can also use 66`-y`/`--yes` to skip the questionnaire altogether. If you pass `--scope`, it 67will create a scoped package. 68 69### See Also 70 71* <https://github.com/isaacs/init-package-json> 72* [package.json](/configuring-npm/package-json) 73* [npm version](/cli-commands/npm-version) 74* [npm scope](/using-npm/scope) 75