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Anuradha Aggarwal
Anuradha Aggarwal

Posted on • Originally published at anuradha.hashnode.dev

NPM v/s NPX

#webdev #programming #beginners #npm

Hello Developers!! While working on any of your projects you might have come across NPM.

NPM stands for Node Package Manager and is a go to tool for managing NodeJS packages.

  • It helps you install libraries, manage dependencies & even define scripts to automate tasks.

Now switch to the term NPX which stands for Node Package Execute

  • it comes with the NPM, when you installed NPM above 5.2.0 version then automatically NPX will installed.

  • It is a NPM package runner that can execute any package that you want from the NPM registry without even installing that package.

Let’s take a simple example to understand the difference between the two:

🎯 NPM

📍 Example

Create a new directory

mkdir test-project
cd test-project
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Now install the package cowsay using NPM

npm install cowsay
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NPM command example

Now if you check your project directory there will be new entry created inside the node_modules

Project directory

You can use this new package using that path like

./node_modules/.bin/cowsay hello
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command cli

Or instead of using the whole path, directly use the package name like

cowsay world
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cli command

So now you understand whenever we use NPM for any package update you have to install it which will occupy space in your system.

📍 Usage

  • You are working on a long-term project where you’ll frequently use the same packages and libraries.

  • You want to manage dependencies and ensure they are tracked in your package.json.

🎯 NPX

📍 Example

It is a NPM Package Executor that can execute any package that you want from the NPM registry without even installing that package.

Let’s try this out:

mkdir test-npx
cd test-npx

npx cowsay hello
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npx command

Also if you check test-npx directory, it is empty that means this package does not occupy any space.

npx example directory

📍 Usage

  • You want to execute a package without permanently installing it.

  • You’re running one-off commands like create-react-app, eslint, or package binaries.

  • You need to run a specific version of a package or command without modifying your existing setup.

🎯 Wrap Up!!

That's all for this article. Thank you for your time!! Let's connect to learn and grow together. LinkedIn Twitter Instagram

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