Discussion on: What interesting things I can do with npm?

[Jonathan Apodaca]

I also forgot a few:

• npm link - useful if you depend on a development version of a package that only exists on your local machine
• npm install /path/to/file - alternative way to accomplish the above point: recent versions of NPM just create a symlink! so you can edit the linked project live and have updates just like you would expect
• npm audit - available in >=v6.x - runs a security audit on your dependencies
• npm info - want to see what version of a package is the latest? Run npm info express dist-tags
• npm install github.com/user/project#semver:^1.0.0
• npm install some-package@next - install not the "latest" version, but the version tagged by "next"

NPM greater than version 5 is pretty amazing. Earlier versions, not so much. I would recommend yarn if you are stuck with earlier versions of NPM.

[Jonathan Apodaca]

Oh, and don't forget that an .npmrc file local to your project overrides a global .npmrc file: useful for CI servers (store a .npmrc file with your project)!

[mbtts]

Good point on the project specific .npmrc.

Another tip is that a separate repository (and credentials) can be configured per scope as well (credit Guillaume Martigny for mentioning scoped modules first below).

@<scope>:registry=http://host/repository/npm/private/
//host/repository/npm/private/:_password=<password>
//host/repository/npm/private/:username=<username>
//host/repository/npm/private/:email=<email
//host/repository/npm/private/:always-auth=true

This can be useful if you have some private modules in a private repository but do not wish to proxy all requests for public modules through it as well.

I also agree npm link is very useful if working on multiple modules and testing fixes.