If you’re more of a video person, why not sign up for SitePoint Premium and watch our free screencast: What is npm and How Can I Use It?īut before we can start using npm, we first have to install Node.js on our system. We’ll also show you how to work with package.json to manage a project’s dependencies. We’ll show you how to install packages in local and global mode, as well as delete, update and install a certain version of a package.

In this guide, we’re going to look at the basics of working with npm. It installs the packages you want to use and provides a useful interface to work with them. This is where npm, the Node package manager, comes in. To make use of these tools (or packages) in Node.js, we need to be able to install and manage them in a useful way. Since then, a whole new ecosystem of Node-based tools (such as Grunt, Gulp and webpack) has evolved to transform the face of front-end development. Originally, it was intended as a server environment for applications, but developers started using it to create tools to aid them in local task automation. It’s built on the V8 JavaScript runtime and written in C++ - so it’s fast.

Node.js makes it possible to write applications in JavaScript on the server. This step-by-step guide will show you how to install npm, and master common commands in the Node Package Manager (npm) command-line interface.

Npm config set prefix