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<h1><a href="../misc/npm-developers.html">npm-developers</a></h1> <p>Developer Guide</p>
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<h2 id="description">DESCRIPTION</h2>
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<p>So, you've decided to use npm to develop (and maybe publish/deploy)
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your project.</p>
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<p>Fantastic!</p>
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<p>There are a few things that you need to do above the simple steps
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that your users will do to install your program.</p>
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<h2 id="about-these-documents">About These Documents</h2>
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<p>These are man pages. If you install npm, you should be able to
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then do <code>man npm-thing</code> to get the documentation on a particular
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topic, or <code>npm help thing</code> to see the same information.</p>
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<h2 id="what-is-a-package">What is a <code>package</code></h2>
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<p>A package is:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>a) a folder containing a program described by a package.json file</li>
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<li>b) a gzipped tarball containing (a)</li>
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<li>c) a url that resolves to (b)</li>
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<li>d) a <code><name>@<version></code> that is published on the registry with (c)</li>
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<li>e) a <code><name>@<tag></code> that points to (d)</li>
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<li>f) a <code><name></code> that has a "latest" tag satisfying (e)</li>
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<li>g) a <code>git</code> url that, when cloned, results in (a).</li>
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</ul>
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<p>Even if you never publish your package, you can still get a lot of
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benefits of using npm if you just want to write a node program (a), and
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perhaps if you also want to be able to easily install it elsewhere
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after packing it up into a tarball (b).</p>
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<p>Git urls can be of the form:</p>
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<pre><code>git://github.com/user/project.git#commit-ish
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git+ssh://user@hostname:project.git#commit-ish
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git+http://user@hostname/project/blah.git#commit-ish
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git+https://user@hostname/project/blah.git#commit-ish</code></pre><p>The <code>commit-ish</code> can be any tag, sha, or branch which can be supplied as
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an argument to <code>git checkout</code>. The default is <code>master</code>.</p>
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<h2 id="the-package-json-file">The package.json File</h2>
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<p>You need to have a <code>package.json</code> file in the root of your project to do
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much of anything with npm. That is basically the whole interface.</p>
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<p>See <code><a href="../files/package.json.html">package.json(5)</a></code> for details about what goes in that file. At the very
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least, you need:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><p>name:
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This should be a string that identifies your project. Please do not
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use the name to specify that it runs on node, or is in JavaScript.
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You can use the "engines" field to explicitly state the versions of
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node (or whatever else) that your program requires, and it's pretty
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well assumed that it's JavaScript.</p>
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<p>It does not necessarily need to match your github repository name.</p>
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<p>So, <code>node-foo</code> and <code>bar-js</code> are bad names. <code>foo</code> or <code>bar</code> are better.</p>
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</li>
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<li><p>version:
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A semver-compatible version.</p>
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</li>
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<li><p>engines:
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Specify the versions of node (or whatever else) that your program
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runs on. The node API changes a lot, and there may be bugs or new
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functionality that you depend on. Be explicit.</p>
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</li>
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<li><p>author:
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Take some credit.</p>
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</li>
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<li><p>scripts:
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If you have a special compilation or installation script, then you
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should put it in the <code>scripts</code> object. You should definitely have at
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least a basic smoke-test command as the "scripts.test" field.
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See <a href="../misc/npm-scripts.html">npm-scripts(7)</a>.</p>
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</li>
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<li><p>main:
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If you have a single module that serves as the entry point to your
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program (like what the "foo" package gives you at require("foo")),
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then you need to specify that in the "main" field.</p>
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</li>
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<li><p>directories:
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This is an object mapping names to folders. The best ones to include are
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"lib" and "doc", but if you use "man" to specify a folder full of man pages,
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they'll get installed just like these ones.</p>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>You can use <code>npm init</code> in the root of your package in order to get you
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started with a pretty basic package.json file. See <code><a href="../cli/npm-init.html">npm-init(1)</a></code> for
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more info.</p>
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<h2 id="keeping-files-out-of-your-package">Keeping files <em>out</em> of your package</h2>
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<p>Use a <code>.npmignore</code> file to keep stuff out of your package. If there's
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no <code>.npmignore</code> file, but there <em>is</em> a <code>.gitignore</code> file, then npm will
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ignore the stuff matched by the <code>.gitignore</code> file. If you <em>want</em> to
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include something that is excluded by your <code>.gitignore</code> file, you can
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create an empty <code>.npmignore</code> file to override it. Like <code>git</code>, <code>npm</code> looks
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for <code>.npmignore</code> and <code>.gitignore</code> files in all subdirectories of your
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package, not only the root directory.</p>
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<p><code>.npmignore</code> files follow the <a href="https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Basics-Recording-Changes-to-the-Repository#Ignoring-Files">same pattern rules</a>
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as <code>.gitignore</code> files:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Blank lines or lines starting with <code>#</code> are ignored.</li>
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<li>Standard glob patterns work.</li>
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<li>You can end patterns with a forward slash <code>/</code> to specify a directory.</li>
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<li>You can negate a pattern by starting it with an exclamation point <code>!</code>.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>By default, the following paths and files are ignored, so there's no
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need to add them to <code>.npmignore</code> explicitly:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><code>.*.swp</code></li>
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<li><code>._*</code></li>
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<li><code>.DS_Store</code></li>
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<li><code>.git</code></li>
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<li><code>.hg</code></li>
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<li><code>.npmrc</code></li>
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<li><code>.lock-wscript</code></li>
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<li><code>.svn</code></li>
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<li><code>.wafpickle-*</code></li>
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<li><code>config.gypi</code></li>
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<li><code>CVS</code></li>
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<li><code>npm-debug.log</code></li>
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</ul>
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<p>Additionally, everything in <code>node_modules</code> is ignored, except for
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bundled dependencies. npm automatically handles this for you, so don't
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bother adding <code>node_modules</code> to <code>.npmignore</code>.</p>
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<p>The following paths and files are never ignored, so adding them to
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<code>.npmignore</code> is pointless:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><code>package.json</code></li>
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<li><code><a href="../../doc/README.html">README</a></code> (and its variants)</li>
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<li><code>CHANGELOG</code> (and its variants)</li>
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<li><code>LICENSE</code> / <code>LICENCE</code></li>
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</ul>
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<p>If, given the structure of your project, you find <code>.npmignore</code> to be a
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maintenance headache, you might instead try populating the <code>files</code>
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property of <code>package.json</code>, which is an array of file or directory names
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that should be included in your package. Sometimes a whitelist is easier
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to manage than a blacklist.</p>
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<h3 id="testing-whether-your-npmignore-or-files-config-works">Testing whether your <code>.npmignore</code> or <code>files</code> config works</h3>
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<p>If you want to double check that your package will include only the files
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you intend it to when published, you can run the <code>npm pack</code> command locally
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which will generate a tarball in the working directory, the same way it
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does for publishing.</p>
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<h2 id="link-packages">Link Packages</h2>
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<p><code>npm link</code> is designed to install a development package and see the
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changes in real time without having to keep re-installing it. (You do
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need to either re-link or <code>npm rebuild -g</code> to update compiled packages,
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of course.)</p>
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<p>More info at <code><a href="../cli/npm-link.html">npm-link(1)</a></code>.</p>
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<h2 id="before-publishing-make-sure-your-package-installs-and-works">Before Publishing: Make Sure Your Package Installs and Works</h2>
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<p><strong>This is important.</strong></p>
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<p>If you can not install it locally, you'll have
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problems trying to publish it. Or, worse yet, you'll be able to
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publish it, but you'll be publishing a broken or pointless package.
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So don't do that.</p>
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<p>In the root of your package, do this:</p>
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<pre><code>npm install . -g</code></pre><p>That'll show you that it's working. If you'd rather just create a symlink
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package that points to your working directory, then do this:</p>
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<pre><code>npm link</code></pre><p>Use <code>npm ls -g</code> to see if it's there.</p>
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<p>To test a local install, go into some other folder, and then do:</p>
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<pre><code>cd ../some-other-folder
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npm install ../my-package</code></pre><p>to install it locally into the node_modules folder in that other place.</p>
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<p>Then go into the node-repl, and try using require("my-thing") to
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bring in your module's main module.</p>
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<h2 id="create-a-user-account">Create a User Account</h2>
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<p>Create a user with the adduser command. It works like this:</p>
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<pre><code>npm adduser</code></pre><p>and then follow the prompts.</p>
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<p>This is documented better in <a href="../cli/npm-adduser.html">npm-adduser(1)</a>.</p>
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<h2 id="publish-your-package">Publish your package</h2>
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<p>This part's easy. In the root of your folder, do this:</p>
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<pre><code>npm publish</code></pre><p>You can give publish a url to a tarball, or a filename of a tarball,
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or a path to a folder.</p>
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<p>Note that pretty much <strong>everything in that folder will be exposed</strong>
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by default. So, if you have secret stuff in there, use a
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<code>.npmignore</code> file to list out the globs to ignore, or publish
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from a fresh checkout.</p>
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<h2 id="brag-about-it">Brag about it</h2>
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<p>Send emails, write blogs, blab in IRC.</p>
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<p>Tell the world how easy it is to install your program!</p>
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<h2 id="see-also">SEE ALSO</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="../cli/npm.html">npm(1)</a></li>
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<li><a href="../cli/npm-init.html">npm-init(1)</a></li>
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<li><a href="../files/package.json.html">package.json(5)</a></li>
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<li><a href="../misc/npm-scripts.html">npm-scripts(7)</a></li>
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<li><a href="../cli/npm-publish.html">npm-publish(1)</a></li>
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<li><a href="../cli/npm-adduser.html">npm-adduser(1)</a></li>
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<li><a href="../misc/npm-registry.html">npm-registry(7)</a></li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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<table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 id=npmlogo>
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</table>
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<p id="footer">npm-developers — npm@6.4.1</p>
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