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- <h1><a href="../files/npm-folders.html">npm-folders</a></h1> <p>Folder Structures Used by npm</p>
- <h2 id="description">DESCRIPTION</h2>
- <p>npm puts various things on your computer. That's its job.</p>
- <p>This document will tell you what it puts where.</p>
- <h3 id="tl-dr">tl;dr</h3>
- <ul>
- <li>Local install (default): puts stuff in <code>./node_modules</code> of the current
- package root.</li>
- <li>Global install (with <code>-g</code>): puts stuff in /usr/local or wherever node
- is installed.</li>
- <li>Install it <strong>locally</strong> if you're going to <code>require()</code> it.</li>
- <li>Install it <strong>globally</strong> if you're going to run it on the command line.</li>
- <li>If you need both, then install it in both places, or use <code>npm link</code>.</li>
- </ul>
- <h3 id="prefix-configuration">prefix Configuration</h3>
- <p>The <code>prefix</code> config defaults to the location where node is installed.
- On most systems, this is <code>/usr/local</code>. On Windows, it's <code>%AppData%\npm</code>.
- On Unix systems, it's one level up, since node is typically installed at
- <code>{prefix}/bin/node</code> rather than <code>{prefix}/node.exe</code>.</p>
- <p>When the <code>global</code> flag is set, npm installs things into this prefix.
- When it is not set, it uses the root of the current package, or the
- current working directory if not in a package already.</p>
- <h3 id="node-modules">Node Modules</h3>
- <p>Packages are dropped into the <code>node_modules</code> folder under the <code>prefix</code>.
- When installing locally, this means that you can
- <code>require("packagename")</code> to load its main module, or
- <code>require("packagename/lib/path/to/sub/module")</code> to load other modules.</p>
- <p>Global installs on Unix systems go to <code>{prefix}/lib/node_modules</code>.
- Global installs on Windows go to <code>{prefix}/node_modules</code> (that is, no
- <code>lib</code> folder.)</p>
- <p>Scoped packages are installed the same way, except they are grouped together
- in a sub-folder of the relevant <code>node_modules</code> folder with the name of that
- scope prefix by the @ symbol, e.g. <code>npm install @myorg/package</code> would place
- the package in <code>{prefix}/node_modules/@myorg/package</code>. See <code><a href="../misc/scope.html">scope(7)</a></code> for
- more details.</p>
- <p>If you wish to <code>require()</code> a package, then install it locally.</p>
- <h3 id="executables">Executables</h3>
- <p>When in global mode, executables are linked into <code>{prefix}/bin</code> on Unix,
- or directly into <code>{prefix}</code> on Windows.</p>
- <p>When in local mode, executables are linked into
- <code>./node_modules/.bin</code> so that they can be made available to scripts run
- through npm. (For example, so that a test runner will be in the path
- when you run <code>npm test</code>.)</p>
- <h3 id="man-pages">Man Pages</h3>
- <p>When in global mode, man pages are linked into <code>{prefix}/share/man</code>.</p>
- <p>When in local mode, man pages are not installed.</p>
- <p>Man pages are not installed on Windows systems.</p>
- <h3 id="cache">Cache</h3>
- <p>See <code><a href="../cli/npm-cache.html">npm-cache(1)</a></code>. Cache files are stored in <code>~/.npm</code> on Posix, or
- <code>%AppData%/npm-cache</code> on Windows.</p>
- <p>This is controlled by the <code>cache</code> configuration param.</p>
- <h3 id="temp-files">Temp Files</h3>
- <p>Temporary files are stored by default in the folder specified by the
- <code>tmp</code> config, which defaults to the TMPDIR, TMP, or TEMP environment
- variables, or <code>/tmp</code> on Unix and <code>c:\windows\temp</code> on Windows.</p>
- <p>Temp files are given a unique folder under this root for each run of the
- program, and are deleted upon successful exit.</p>
- <h2 id="more-information">More Information</h2>
- <p>When installing locally, npm first tries to find an appropriate
- <code>prefix</code> folder. This is so that <code>npm install foo@1.2.3</code> will install
- to the sensible root of your package, even if you happen to have <code>cd</code>ed
- into some other folder.</p>
- <p>Starting at the $PWD, npm will walk up the folder tree checking for a
- folder that contains either a <code>package.json</code> file, or a <code>node_modules</code>
- folder. If such a thing is found, then that is treated as the effective
- "current directory" for the purpose of running npm commands. (This
- behavior is inspired by and similar to git's .git-folder seeking
- logic when running git commands in a working dir.)</p>
- <p>If no package root is found, then the current folder is used.</p>
- <p>When you run <code>npm install foo@1.2.3</code>, then the package is loaded into
- the cache, and then unpacked into <code>./node_modules/foo</code>. Then, any of
- foo's dependencies are similarly unpacked into
- <code>./node_modules/foo/node_modules/...</code>.</p>
- <p>Any bin files are symlinked to <code>./node_modules/.bin/</code>, so that they may
- be found by npm scripts when necessary.</p>
- <h3 id="global-installation">Global Installation</h3>
- <p>If the <code>global</code> configuration is set to true, then npm will
- install packages "globally".</p>
- <p>For global installation, packages are installed roughly the same way,
- but using the folders described above.</p>
- <h3 id="cycles-conflicts-and-folder-parsimony">Cycles, Conflicts, and Folder Parsimony</h3>
- <p>Cycles are handled using the property of node's module system that it
- walks up the directories looking for <code>node_modules</code> folders. So, at every
- stage, if a package is already installed in an ancestor <code>node_modules</code>
- folder, then it is not installed at the current location.</p>
- <p>Consider the case above, where <code>foo -> bar -> baz</code>. Imagine if, in
- addition to that, baz depended on bar, so you'd have:
- <code>foo -> bar -> baz -> bar -> baz ...</code>. However, since the folder
- structure is: <code>foo/node_modules/bar/node_modules/baz</code>, there's no need to
- put another copy of bar into <code>.../baz/node_modules</code>, since when it calls
- require("bar"), it will get the copy that is installed in
- <code>foo/node_modules/bar</code>.</p>
- <p>This shortcut is only used if the exact same
- version would be installed in multiple nested <code>node_modules</code> folders. It
- is still possible to have <code>a/node_modules/b/node_modules/a</code> if the two
- "a" packages are different versions. However, without repeating the
- exact same package multiple times, an infinite regress will always be
- prevented.</p>
- <p>Another optimization can be made by installing dependencies at the
- highest level possible, below the localized "target" folder.</p>
- <h4 id="example">Example</h4>
- <p>Consider this dependency graph:</p>
- <pre><code>foo
- +-- blerg@1.2.5
- +-- bar@1.2.3
- | +-- blerg@1.x (latest=1.3.7)
- | +-- baz@2.x
- | | `-- quux@3.x
- | | `-- bar@1.2.3 (cycle)
- | `-- asdf@*
- `-- baz@1.2.3
- `-- quux@3.x
- `-- bar</code></pre><p>In this case, we might expect a folder structure like this:</p>
- <pre><code>foo
- +-- node_modules
- +-- blerg (1.2.5) <---[A]
- +-- bar (1.2.3) <---[B]
- | `-- node_modules
- | +-- baz (2.0.2) <---[C]
- | | `-- node_modules
- | | `-- quux (3.2.0)
- | `-- asdf (2.3.4)
- `-- baz (1.2.3) <---[D]
- `-- node_modules
- `-- quux (3.2.0) <---[E]</code></pre><p>Since foo depends directly on <a href="mailto:%60bar@1.2.3">`bar@1.2.3</a><code>and</code><a href="mailto:baz@1.2.3">baz@1.2.3</a><code>, those are
- installed in foo's</code>node_modules` folder.</p>
- <p>Even though the latest copy of blerg is 1.3.7, foo has a specific
- dependency on version 1.2.5. So, that gets installed at [A]. Since the
- parent installation of blerg satisfies bar's dependency on <a href="mailto:%60blerg@1.x">`blerg@1.x</a>`,
- it does not install another copy under [B].</p>
- <p>Bar [B] also has dependencies on baz and asdf, so those are installed in
- bar's <code>node_modules</code> folder. Because it depends on <a href="mailto:%60baz@2.x">`baz@2.x</a><code>, it cannot
- re-use the</code><a href="mailto:baz@1.2.3">baz@1.2.3</a><code>installed in the parent</code>node_modules` folder [D],
- and must install its own copy [C].</p>
- <p>Underneath bar, the <code>baz -> quux -> bar</code> dependency creates a cycle.
- However, because bar is already in quux's ancestry [B], it does not
- unpack another copy of bar into that folder.</p>
- <p>Underneath <code>foo -> baz</code> [D], quux's [E] folder tree is empty, because its
- dependency on bar is satisfied by the parent folder copy installed at [B].</p>
- <p>For a graphical breakdown of what is installed where, use <code>npm ls</code>.</p>
- <h3 id="publishing">Publishing</h3>
- <p>Upon publishing, npm will look in the <code>node_modules</code> folder. If any of
- the items there are not in the <code>bundledDependencies</code> array, then they will
- not be included in the package tarball.</p>
- <p>This allows a package maintainer to install all of their dependencies
- (and dev dependencies) locally, but only re-publish those items that
- cannot be found elsewhere. See <code><a href="../files/package.json.html">package.json(5)</a></code> for more information.</p>
- <h2 id="see-also">SEE ALSO</h2>
- <ul>
- <li><a href="../files/package.json.html">package.json(5)</a></li>
- <li><a href="../cli/npm-install.html">npm-install(1)</a></li>
- <li><a href="../cli/npm-pack.html">npm-pack(1)</a></li>
- <li><a href="../cli/npm-cache.html">npm-cache(1)</a></li>
- <li><a href="../cli/npm-config.html">npm-config(1)</a></li>
- <li><a href="../files/npmrc.html">npmrc(5)</a></li>
- <li><a href="../misc/npm-config.html">npm-config(7)</a></li>
- <li><a href="../cli/npm-publish.html">npm-publish(1)</a></li>
- </ul>
-
- </div>
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- <p id="footer">npm-folders — npm@6.4.1</p>
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