1<!DOCTYPE html><html><head> 2<meta charset="utf-8"> 3<title>npm-link</title> 4<style> 5body { 6 background-color: #ffffff; 7 color: #24292e; 8 9 margin: 0; 10 11 line-height: 1.5; 12 13 font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji"; 14} 15#rainbar { 16 height: 10px; 17 background-image: linear-gradient(139deg, #fb8817, #ff4b01, #c12127, #e02aff); 18} 19 20a { 21 text-decoration: none; 22 color: #0366d6; 23} 24a:hover { 25 text-decoration: underline; 26} 27 28pre { 29 margin: 1em 0px; 30 padding: 1em; 31 border: solid 1px #e1e4e8; 32 border-radius: 6px; 33 34 display: block; 35 overflow: auto; 36 37 white-space: pre; 38 39 background-color: #f6f8fa; 40 color: #393a34; 41} 42code { 43 font-family: SFMono-Regular, Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Menlo, Courier, monospace; 44 font-size: 85%; 45 padding: 0.2em 0.4em; 46 background-color: #f6f8fa; 47 color: #393a34; 48} 49pre > code { 50 padding: 0; 51 background-color: inherit; 52 color: inherit; 53} 54h1, h2, h3 { 55 font-weight: 600; 56} 57 58#logobar { 59 background-color: #333333; 60 margin: 0 auto; 61 padding: 1em 4em; 62} 63#logobar .logo { 64 float: left; 65} 66#logobar .title { 67 font-weight: 600; 68 color: #dddddd; 69 float: left; 70 margin: 5px 0 0 1em; 71} 72#logobar:after { 73 content: ""; 74 display: block; 75 clear: both; 76} 77 78#content { 79 margin: 0 auto; 80 padding: 0 4em; 81} 82 83#table_of_contents > h2 { 84 font-size: 1.17em; 85} 86#table_of_contents ul:first-child { 87 border: solid 1px #e1e4e8; 88 border-radius: 6px; 89 padding: 1em; 90 background-color: #f6f8fa; 91 color: #393a34; 92} 93#table_of_contents ul { 94 list-style-type: none; 95 padding-left: 1.5em; 96} 97#table_of_contents li { 98 font-size: 0.9em; 99} 100#table_of_contents li a { 101 color: #000000; 102} 103 104header.title { 105 border-bottom: solid 1px #e1e4e8; 106} 107header.title > h1 { 108 margin-bottom: 0.25em; 109} 110header.title > .description { 111 display: block; 112 margin-bottom: 0.5em; 113 line-height: 1; 114} 115 116footer#edit { 117 border-top: solid 1px #e1e4e8; 118 margin: 3em 0 4em 0; 119 padding-top: 2em; 120} 121</style> 122</head> 123<body> 124<div id="banner"> 125<div id="rainbar"></div> 126<div id="logobar"> 127<svg class="logo" role="img" height="32" width="32" viewBox="0 0 700 700"> 128<polygon fill="#cb0000" points="0,700 700,700 700,0 0,0"></polygon> 129<polygon fill="#ffffff" points="150,550 350,550 350,250 450,250 450,550 550,550 550,150 150,150"></polygon> 130</svg> 131<div class="title"> 132npm command-line interface 133</div> 134</div> 135</div> 136 137<section id="content"> 138<header class="title"> 139<h1 id="npm-link">npm-link</h1> 140<span class="description">Symlink a package folder</span> 141</header> 142 143<section id="table_of_contents"> 144<h2 id="table-of-contents">Table of contents</h2> 145<div id="_table_of_contents"><ul><li><a href="#synopsis">Synopsis</a></li><li><a href="#description">Description</a></li><li><a href="#caveat">Caveat</a></li><li><a href="#workspace-usage">Workspace Usage</a></li><li><a href="#configuration">Configuration</a></li><ul><li><a href="#save"><code>save</code></a></li><li><a href="#save-exact"><code>save-exact</code></a></li><li><a href="#global"><code>global</code></a></li><li><a href="#install-strategy"><code>install-strategy</code></a></li><li><a href="#legacy-bundling"><code>legacy-bundling</code></a></li><li><a href="#global-style"><code>global-style</code></a></li><li><a href="#strict-peer-deps"><code>strict-peer-deps</code></a></li><li><a href="#package-lock"><code>package-lock</code></a></li><li><a href="#omit"><code>omit</code></a></li><li><a href="#include"><code>include</code></a></li><li><a href="#ignore-scripts"><code>ignore-scripts</code></a></li><li><a href="#audit"><code>audit</code></a></li><li><a href="#bin-links"><code>bin-links</code></a></li><li><a href="#fund"><code>fund</code></a></li><li><a href="#dry-run"><code>dry-run</code></a></li><li><a href="#workspace"><code>workspace</code></a></li><li><a href="#workspaces"><code>workspaces</code></a></li><li><a href="#include-workspace-root"><code>include-workspace-root</code></a></li><li><a href="#install-links"><code>install-links</code></a></li></ul><li><a href="#see-also">See Also</a></li></ul></div> 146</section> 147 148<div id="_content"><h3 id="synopsis">Synopsis</h3> 149<pre><code class="language-bash">npm link [<package-spec>] 150 151alias: ln 152</code></pre> 153<h3 id="description">Description</h3> 154<p>This is handy for installing your own stuff, so that you can work on it and 155test iteratively without having to continually rebuild.</p> 156<p>Package linking is a two-step process.</p> 157<p>First, <code>npm link</code> in a package folder with no arguments will create a 158symlink in the global folder <code>{prefix}/lib/node_modules/<package></code> that 159links to the package where the <code>npm link</code> command was executed. It will 160also link any bins in the package to <code>{prefix}/bin/{name}</code>. Note that 161<code>npm link</code> uses the global prefix (see <code>npm prefix -g</code> for its value).</p> 162<p>Next, in some other location, <code>npm link package-name</code> will create a 163symbolic link from globally-installed <code>package-name</code> to <code>node_modules/</code> of 164the current folder.</p> 165<p>Note that <code>package-name</code> is taken from <code>package.json</code>, <em>not</em> from the 166directory name.</p> 167<p>The package name can be optionally prefixed with a scope. See 168<a href="../using-npm/scope.html"><code>scope</code></a>. The scope must be preceded by an @-symbol and 169followed by a slash.</p> 170<p>When creating tarballs for <code>npm publish</code>, the linked packages are 171"snapshotted" to their current state by resolving the symbolic links, if 172they are included in <code>bundleDependencies</code>.</p> 173<p>For example:</p> 174<pre><code class="language-bash">cd ~/projects/node-redis # go into the package directory 175npm link # creates global link 176cd ~/projects/node-bloggy # go into some other package directory. 177npm link redis # link-install the package 178</code></pre> 179<p>Now, any changes to <code>~/projects/node-redis</code> will be reflected in 180<code>~/projects/node-bloggy/node_modules/node-redis/</code>. Note that the link 181should be to the package name, not the directory name for that package.</p> 182<p>You may also shortcut the two steps in one. For example, to do the 183above use-case in a shorter way:</p> 184<pre><code class="language-bash">cd ~/projects/node-bloggy # go into the dir of your main project 185npm link ../node-redis # link the dir of your dependency 186</code></pre> 187<p>The second line is the equivalent of doing:</p> 188<pre><code class="language-bash">(cd ../node-redis; npm link) 189npm link redis 190</code></pre> 191<p>That is, it first creates a global link, and then links the global 192installation target into your project's <code>node_modules</code> folder.</p> 193<p>Note that in this case, you are referring to the directory name, 194<code>node-redis</code>, rather than the package name <code>redis</code>.</p> 195<p>If your linked package is scoped (see <a href="../using-npm/scope.html"><code>scope</code></a>) your 196link command must include that scope, e.g.</p> 197<pre><code class="language-bash">npm link @myorg/privatepackage 198</code></pre> 199<h3 id="caveat">Caveat</h3> 200<p>Note that package dependencies linked in this way are <em>not</em> saved to 201<code>package.json</code> by default, on the assumption that the intention is to have 202a link stand in for a regular non-link dependency. Otherwise, for example, 203if you depend on <code>redis@^3.0.1</code>, and ran <code>npm link redis</code>, it would replace 204the <code>^3.0.1</code> dependency with <code>file:../path/to/node-redis</code>, which you 205probably don't want! Additionally, other users or developers on your 206project would run into issues if they do not have their folders set up 207exactly the same as yours.</p> 208<p>If you are adding a <em>new</em> dependency as a link, you should add it to the 209relevant metadata by running <code>npm install <dep> --package-lock-only</code>.</p> 210<p>If you <em>want</em> to save the <code>file:</code> reference in your <code>package.json</code> and 211<code>package-lock.json</code> files, you can use <code>npm link <dep> --save</code> to do so.</p> 212<h3 id="workspace-usage">Workspace Usage</h3> 213<p><code>npm link <pkg> --workspace <name></code> will link the relevant package as a 214dependency of the specified workspace(s). Note that It may actually be 215linked into the parent project's <code>node_modules</code> folder, if there are no 216conflicting dependencies.</p> 217<p><code>npm link --workspace <name></code> will create a global link to the specified 218workspace(s).</p> 219<h3 id="configuration">Configuration</h3> 220<h4 id="save"><code>save</code></h4> 221<ul> 222<li>Default: <code>true</code> unless when using <code>npm update</code> where it defaults to <code>false</code></li> 223<li>Type: Boolean</li> 224</ul> 225<p>Save installed packages to a <code>package.json</code> file as dependencies.</p> 226<p>When used with the <code>npm rm</code> command, removes the dependency from 227<code>package.json</code>.</p> 228<p>Will also prevent writing to <code>package-lock.json</code> if set to <code>false</code>.</p> 229<h4 id="save-exact"><code>save-exact</code></h4> 230<ul> 231<li>Default: false</li> 232<li>Type: Boolean</li> 233</ul> 234<p>Dependencies saved to package.json will be configured with an exact version 235rather than using npm's default semver range operator.</p> 236<h4 id="global"><code>global</code></h4> 237<ul> 238<li>Default: false</li> 239<li>Type: Boolean</li> 240</ul> 241<p>Operates in "global" mode, so that packages are installed into the <code>prefix</code> 242folder instead of the current working directory. See 243<a href="../configuring-npm/folders.html">folders</a> for more on the differences in behavior.</p> 244<ul> 245<li>packages are installed into the <code>{prefix}/lib/node_modules</code> folder, instead 246of the current working directory.</li> 247<li>bin files are linked to <code>{prefix}/bin</code></li> 248<li>man pages are linked to <code>{prefix}/share/man</code></li> 249</ul> 250<h4 id="install-strategy"><code>install-strategy</code></h4> 251<ul> 252<li>Default: "hoisted"</li> 253<li>Type: "hoisted", "nested", "shallow", or "linked"</li> 254</ul> 255<p>Sets the strategy for installing packages in node_modules. hoisted 256(default): Install non-duplicated in top-level, and duplicated as necessary 257within directory structure. nested: (formerly --legacy-bundling) install in 258place, no hoisting. shallow (formerly --global-style) only install direct 259deps at top-level. linked: (experimental) install in node_modules/.store, 260link in place, unhoisted.</p> 261<h4 id="legacy-bundling"><code>legacy-bundling</code></h4> 262<ul> 263<li>Default: false</li> 264<li>Type: Boolean</li> 265<li>DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of 266<code>--install-strategy=nested</code></li> 267</ul> 268<p>Instead of hoisting package installs in <code>node_modules</code>, install packages in 269the same manner that they are depended on. This may cause very deep 270directory structures and duplicate package installs as there is no 271de-duplicating. Sets <code>--install-strategy=nested</code>.</p> 272<h4 id="global-style"><code>global-style</code></h4> 273<ul> 274<li>Default: false</li> 275<li>Type: Boolean</li> 276<li>DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of 277<code>--install-strategy=shallow</code></li> 278</ul> 279<p>Only install direct dependencies in the top level <code>node_modules</code>, but hoist 280on deeper dependencies. Sets <code>--install-strategy=shallow</code>.</p> 281<h4 id="strict-peer-deps"><code>strict-peer-deps</code></h4> 282<ul> 283<li>Default: false</li> 284<li>Type: Boolean</li> 285</ul> 286<p>If set to <code>true</code>, and <code>--legacy-peer-deps</code> is not set, then <em>any</em> 287conflicting <code>peerDependencies</code> will be treated as an install failure, even 288if npm could reasonably guess the appropriate resolution based on non-peer 289dependency relationships.</p> 290<p>By default, conflicting <code>peerDependencies</code> deep in the dependency graph will 291be resolved using the nearest non-peer dependency specification, even if 292doing so will result in some packages receiving a peer dependency outside 293the range set in their package's <code>peerDependencies</code> object.</p> 294<p>When such an override is performed, a warning is printed, explaining the 295conflict and the packages involved. If <code>--strict-peer-deps</code> is set, then 296this warning is treated as a failure.</p> 297<h4 id="package-lock"><code>package-lock</code></h4> 298<ul> 299<li>Default: true</li> 300<li>Type: Boolean</li> 301</ul> 302<p>If set to false, then ignore <code>package-lock.json</code> files when installing. This 303will also prevent <em>writing</em> <code>package-lock.json</code> if <code>save</code> is true.</p> 304<h4 id="omit"><code>omit</code></h4> 305<ul> 306<li>Default: 'dev' if the <code>NODE_ENV</code> environment variable is set to 307'production', otherwise empty.</li> 308<li>Type: "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)</li> 309</ul> 310<p>Dependency types to omit from the installation tree on disk.</p> 311<p>Note that these dependencies <em>are</em> still resolved and added to the 312<code>package-lock.json</code> or <code>npm-shrinkwrap.json</code> file. They are just not 313physically installed on disk.</p> 314<p>If a package type appears in both the <code>--include</code> and <code>--omit</code> lists, then 315it will be included.</p> 316<p>If the resulting omit list includes <code>'dev'</code>, then the <code>NODE_ENV</code> environment 317variable will be set to <code>'production'</code> for all lifecycle scripts.</p> 318<h4 id="include"><code>include</code></h4> 319<ul> 320<li>Default:</li> 321<li>Type: "prod", "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)</li> 322</ul> 323<p>Option that allows for defining which types of dependencies to install.</p> 324<p>This is the inverse of <code>--omit=<type></code>.</p> 325<p>Dependency types specified in <code>--include</code> will not be omitted, regardless of 326the order in which omit/include are specified on the command-line.</p> 327<h4 id="ignore-scripts"><code>ignore-scripts</code></h4> 328<ul> 329<li>Default: false</li> 330<li>Type: Boolean</li> 331</ul> 332<p>If true, npm does not run scripts specified in package.json files.</p> 333<p>Note that commands explicitly intended to run a particular script, such as 334<code>npm start</code>, <code>npm stop</code>, <code>npm restart</code>, <code>npm test</code>, and <code>npm run-script</code> 335will still run their intended script if <code>ignore-scripts</code> is set, but they 336will <em>not</em> run any pre- or post-scripts.</p> 337<h4 id="audit"><code>audit</code></h4> 338<ul> 339<li>Default: true</li> 340<li>Type: Boolean</li> 341</ul> 342<p>When "true" submit audit reports alongside the current npm command to the 343default registry and all registries configured for scopes. See the 344documentation for <a href="../commands/npm-audit.html"><code>npm audit</code></a> for details on what is 345submitted.</p> 346<h4 id="bin-links"><code>bin-links</code></h4> 347<ul> 348<li>Default: true</li> 349<li>Type: Boolean</li> 350</ul> 351<p>Tells npm to create symlinks (or <code>.cmd</code> shims on Windows) for package 352executables.</p> 353<p>Set to false to have it not do this. This can be used to work around the 354fact that some file systems don't support symlinks, even on ostensibly Unix 355systems.</p> 356<h4 id="fund"><code>fund</code></h4> 357<ul> 358<li>Default: true</li> 359<li>Type: Boolean</li> 360</ul> 361<p>When "true" displays the message at the end of each <code>npm install</code> 362acknowledging the number of dependencies looking for funding. See <a href="../commands/npm-fund.html"><code>npm fund</code></a> for details.</p> 363<h4 id="dry-run"><code>dry-run</code></h4> 364<ul> 365<li>Default: false</li> 366<li>Type: Boolean</li> 367</ul> 368<p>Indicates that you don't want npm to make any changes and that it should 369only report what it would have done. This can be passed into any of the 370commands that modify your local installation, eg, <code>install</code>, <code>update</code>, 371<code>dedupe</code>, <code>uninstall</code>, as well as <code>pack</code> and <code>publish</code>.</p> 372<p>Note: This is NOT honored by other network related commands, eg <code>dist-tags</code>, 373<code>owner</code>, etc.</p> 374<h4 id="workspace"><code>workspace</code></h4> 375<ul> 376<li>Default:</li> 377<li>Type: String (can be set multiple times)</li> 378</ul> 379<p>Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of the 380current project while filtering by running only the workspaces defined by 381this configuration option.</p> 382<p>Valid values for the <code>workspace</code> config are either:</p> 383<ul> 384<li>Workspace names</li> 385<li>Path to a workspace directory</li> 386<li>Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all 387workspaces within that folder)</li> 388</ul> 389<p>When set for the <code>npm init</code> command, this may be set to the folder of a 390workspace which does not yet exist, to create the folder and set it up as a 391brand new workspace within the project.</p> 392<p>This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.</p> 393<h4 id="workspaces"><code>workspaces</code></h4> 394<ul> 395<li>Default: null</li> 396<li>Type: null or Boolean</li> 397</ul> 398<p>Set to true to run the command in the context of <strong>all</strong> configured 399workspaces.</p> 400<p>Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like <code>install</code> to 401ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:</p> 402<ul> 403<li>Commands that operate on the <code>node_modules</code> tree (install, update, etc.) 404will link workspaces into the <code>node_modules</code> folder. - Commands that do 405other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the root project, 406<em>unless</em> one or more workspaces are specified in the <code>workspace</code> config.</li> 407</ul> 408<p>This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.</p> 409<h4 id="include-workspace-root"><code>include-workspace-root</code></h4> 410<ul> 411<li>Default: false</li> 412<li>Type: Boolean</li> 413</ul> 414<p>Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.</p> 415<p>When false, specifying individual workspaces via the <code>workspace</code> config, or 416all workspaces via the <code>workspaces</code> flag, will cause npm to operate only on 417the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.</p> 418<p>This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.</p> 419<h4 id="install-links"><code>install-links</code></h4> 420<ul> 421<li>Default: false</li> 422<li>Type: Boolean</li> 423</ul> 424<p>When set file: protocol dependencies will be packed and installed as regular 425dependencies instead of creating a symlink. This option has no effect on 426workspaces.</p> 427<h3 id="see-also">See Also</h3> 428<ul> 429<li><a href="../using-npm/package-spec.html">package spec</a></li> 430<li><a href="../using-npm/developers.html">npm developers</a></li> 431<li><a href="../configuring-npm/package-json.html">package.json</a></li> 432<li><a href="../commands/npm-install.html">npm install</a></li> 433<li><a href="../configuring-npm/folders.html">npm folders</a></li> 434<li><a href="../commands/npm-config.html">npm config</a></li> 435<li><a href="../configuring-npm/npmrc.html">npmrc</a></li> 436</ul></div> 437 438<footer id="edit"> 439<a href="https://github.com/npm/cli/edit/latest/docs/content/commands/npm-link.md"> 440<svg role="img" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16" height="16" fill="currentcolor" style="vertical-align: text-bottom; margin-right: 0.3em;"> 441<path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M11.013 1.427a1.75 1.75 0 012.474 0l1.086 1.086a1.75 1.75 0 010 2.474l-8.61 8.61c-.21.21-.47.364-.756.445l-3.251.93a.75.75 0 01-.927-.928l.929-3.25a1.75 1.75 0 01.445-.758l8.61-8.61zm1.414 1.06a.25.25 0 00-.354 0L10.811 3.75l1.439 1.44 1.263-1.263a.25.25 0 000-.354l-1.086-1.086zM11.189 6.25L9.75 4.81l-6.286 6.287a.25.25 0 00-.064.108l-.558 1.953 1.953-.558a.249.249 0 00.108-.064l6.286-6.286z"></path> 442</svg> 443Edit this page on GitHub 444</a> 445</footer> 446</section> 447 448 449 450</body></html>