1<!DOCTYPE html><html><head> 2<meta charset="utf-8"> 3<title>npx</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="npx">npx</h1> 140<span class="description">Run a command from a local or remote npm package</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="#npx-vs-npm-exec"><code>npx</code> vs <code>npm exec</code></a></li><li><a href="#examples">Examples</a></li><li><a href="#compatibility-with-older-npx-versions">Compatibility with Older npx Versions</a></li><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">npx -- <pkg>[@<version>] [args...] 150npx --package=<pkg>[@<version>] -- <cmd> [args...] 151npx -c '<cmd> [args...]' 152npx --package=foo -c '<cmd> [args...]' 153</code></pre> 154<h3 id="description">Description</h3> 155<p>This command allows you to run an arbitrary command from an npm package 156(either one installed locally, or fetched remotely), in a similar context 157as running it via <code>npm run</code>.</p> 158<p>Whatever packages are specified by the <code>--package</code> option will be 159provided in the <code>PATH</code> of the executed command, along with any locally 160installed package executables. The <code>--package</code> option may be 161specified multiple times, to execute the supplied command in an environment 162where all specified packages are available.</p> 163<p>If any requested packages are not present in the local project 164dependencies, then they are installed to a folder in the npm cache, which 165is added to the <code>PATH</code> environment variable in the executed process. A 166prompt is printed (which can be suppressed by providing either <code>--yes</code> or 167<code>--no</code>).</p> 168<p>Package names provided without a specifier will be matched with whatever 169version exists in the local project. Package names with a specifier will 170only be considered a match if they have the exact same name and version as 171the local dependency.</p> 172<p>If no <code>-c</code> or <code>--call</code> option is provided, then the positional arguments 173are used to generate the command string. If no <code>--package</code> options 174are provided, then npm will attempt to determine the executable name from 175the package specifier provided as the first positional argument according 176to the following heuristic:</p> 177<ul> 178<li>If the package has a single entry in its <code>bin</code> field in <code>package.json</code>, 179or if all entries are aliases of the same command, then that command 180will be used.</li> 181<li>If the package has multiple <code>bin</code> entries, and one of them matches the 182unscoped portion of the <code>name</code> field, then that command will be used.</li> 183<li>If this does not result in exactly one option (either because there are 184no bin entries, or none of them match the <code>name</code> of the package), then 185<code>npm exec</code> exits with an error.</li> 186</ul> 187<p>To run a binary <em>other than</em> the named binary, specify one or more 188<code>--package</code> options, which will prevent npm from inferring the package from 189the first command argument.</p> 190<h3 id="npx-vs-npm-exec"><code>npx</code> vs <code>npm exec</code></h3> 191<p>When run via the <code>npx</code> binary, all flags and options <em>must</em> be set prior to 192any positional arguments. When run via <code>npm exec</code>, a double-hyphen <code>--</code> 193flag can be used to suppress npm's parsing of switches and options that 194should be sent to the executed command.</p> 195<p>For example:</p> 196<pre><code>$ npx foo@latest bar --package=@npmcli/foo 197</code></pre> 198<p>In this case, npm will resolve the <code>foo</code> package name, and run the 199following command:</p> 200<pre><code>$ foo bar --package=@npmcli/foo 201</code></pre> 202<p>Since the <code>--package</code> option comes <em>after</em> the positional arguments, it is 203treated as an argument to the executed command.</p> 204<p>In contrast, due to npm's argument parsing logic, running this command is 205different:</p> 206<pre><code>$ npm exec foo@latest bar --package=@npmcli/foo 207</code></pre> 208<p>In this case, npm will parse the <code>--package</code> option first, resolving the 209<code>@npmcli/foo</code> package. Then, it will execute the following command in that 210context:</p> 211<pre><code>$ foo@latest bar 212</code></pre> 213<p>The double-hyphen character is recommended to explicitly tell npm to stop 214parsing command line options and switches. The following command would 215thus be equivalent to the <code>npx</code> command above:</p> 216<pre><code>$ npm exec -- foo@latest bar --package=@npmcli/foo 217</code></pre> 218<h3 id="examples">Examples</h3> 219<p>Run the version of <code>tap</code> in the local dependencies, with the provided 220arguments:</p> 221<pre><code>$ npm exec -- tap --bail test/foo.js 222$ npx tap --bail test/foo.js 223</code></pre> 224<p>Run a command <em>other than</em> the command whose name matches the package name 225by specifying a <code>--package</code> option:</p> 226<pre><code>$ npm exec --package=foo -- bar --bar-argument 227# ~ or ~ 228$ npx --package=foo bar --bar-argument 229</code></pre> 230<p>Run an arbitrary shell script, in the context of the current project:</p> 231<pre><code>$ npm x -c 'eslint && say "hooray, lint passed"' 232$ npx -c 'eslint && say "hooray, lint passed"' 233</code></pre> 234<h3 id="compatibility-with-older-npx-versions">Compatibility with Older npx Versions</h3> 235<p>The <code>npx</code> binary was rewritten in npm v7.0.0, and the standalone <code>npx</code> 236package deprecated at that time. <code>npx</code> uses the <code>npm exec</code> 237command instead of a separate argument parser and install process, with 238some affordances to maintain backwards compatibility with the arguments it 239accepted in previous versions.</p> 240<p>This resulted in some shifts in its functionality:</p> 241<ul> 242<li>Any <code>npm</code> config value may be provided.</li> 243<li>To prevent security and user-experience problems from mistyping package 244names, <code>npx</code> prompts before installing anything. Suppress this 245prompt with the <code>-y</code> or <code>--yes</code> option.</li> 246<li>The <code>--no-install</code> option is deprecated, and will be converted to <code>--no</code>.</li> 247<li>Shell fallback functionality is removed, as it is not advisable.</li> 248<li>The <code>-p</code> argument is a shorthand for <code>--parseable</code> in npm, but shorthand 249for <code>--package</code> in npx. This is maintained, but only for the <code>npx</code> 250executable.</li> 251<li>The <code>--ignore-existing</code> option is removed. Locally installed bins are 252always present in the executed process <code>PATH</code>.</li> 253<li>The <code>--npm</code> option is removed. <code>npx</code> will always use the <code>npm</code> it ships 254with.</li> 255<li>The <code>--node-arg</code> and <code>-n</code> options have been removed. Use <a href="https://nodejs.org/api/cli.html#node_optionsoptions"><code>NODE_OPTIONS</code></a> instead: e.g., 256<code>NODE_OPTIONS="--trace-warnings --trace-exit" npx foo --random=true</code></li> 257<li>The <code>--always-spawn</code> option is redundant, and thus removed.</li> 258<li>The <code>--shell</code> option is replaced with <code>--script-shell</code>, but maintained 259in the <code>npx</code> executable for backwards compatibility.</li> 260</ul> 261<h3 id="see-also">See Also</h3> 262<ul> 263<li><a href="../commands/npm-run-script.html">npm run-script</a></li> 264<li><a href="../using-npm/scripts.html">npm scripts</a></li> 265<li><a href="../commands/npm-test.html">npm test</a></li> 266<li><a href="../commands/npm-start.html">npm start</a></li> 267<li><a href="../commands/npm-restart.html">npm restart</a></li> 268<li><a href="../commands/npm-stop.html">npm stop</a></li> 269<li><a href="../commands/npm-config.html">npm config</a></li> 270<li><a href="../commands/npm-exec.html">npm exec</a></li> 271</ul></div> 272 273<footer id="edit"> 274<a href="https://github.com/npm/cli/edit/latest/docs/content/commands/npx.md"> 275<svg role="img" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16" height="16" fill="currentcolor" style="vertical-align: text-bottom; margin-right: 0.3em;"> 276<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> 277</svg> 278Edit this page on GitHub 279</a> 280</footer> 281</section> 282 283 284 285</body></html>