npm-init
Create a package.json fileTable of contents
Synopsis
npm init [--force|-f|--yes|-y|--scope]
npm init <@scope> (same as `npx <@scope>/create`)
npm init [<@scope>/]<name> (same as `npx [<@scope>/]create-<name>`)
aliases: create, innit
Description
npm init <initializer>
can be used to set up a new or existing npm
package.
initializer
in this case is an npm package named create-<initializer>
,
which will be installed by npm-exec
, and then have its
main bin executed -- presumably creating or updating package.json
and
running any other initialization-related operations.
The init command is transformed to a corresponding npm exec
operation as
follows:
npm init foo
->npm exec create-foo
npm init @usr/foo
->npm exec @usr/create-foo
npm init @usr
->npm exec @usr/create
If the initializer is omitted (by just calling npm init
), init will fall
back to legacy init behavior. It will ask you a bunch of questions, and
then write a package.json for you. It will attempt to make reasonable
guesses based on existing fields, dependencies, and options selected. It is
strictly additive, so it will keep any fields and values that were already
set. You can also use -y
/--yes
to skip the questionnaire altogether. If
you pass --scope
, it will create a scoped package.
Note: if a user already has the create-<initializer>
package
globally installed, that will be what npm init
uses. If you want npm
to use the latest version, or another specific version you must specify
it:
npm init foo@latest
# fetches and runs the latestcreate-foo
from the registrynpm init foo@1.2.3
# runscreate-foo@1.2.3
specifically
Forwarding additional options
Any additional options will be passed directly to the command, so npm init foo -- --hello
will map to npm exec -- create-foo --hello
.
To better illustrate how options are forwarded, here's a more evolved example showing options passed to both the npm cli and a create package, both following commands are equivalent:
npm init foo -y --registry=<url> -- --hello -a
npm exec -y --registry=<url> -- create-foo --hello -a
Examples
Create a new React-based project using
create-react-app
:
$ npm init react-app ./my-react-app
Create a new esm
-compatible package using
create-esm
:
$ mkdir my-esm-lib && cd my-esm-lib
$ npm init esm --yes
Generate a plain old package.json using legacy init:
$ mkdir my-npm-pkg && cd my-npm-pkg
$ git init
$ npm init
Generate it without having it ask any questions:
$ npm init -y
Workspaces support
It's possible to create a new workspace within your project by using the
workspace
config option. When using npm init -w <dir>
the cli will
create the folders and boilerplate expected while also adding a reference
to your project package.json
"workspaces": []
property in order to make
sure that new generated workspace is properly set up as such.
Given a project with no workspaces, e.g:
.
+-- package.json
You may generate a new workspace using the legacy init:
$ npm init -w packages/a
That will generate a new folder and package.json
file, while also updating
your top-level package.json
to add the reference to this new workspace:
.
+-- package.json
`-- packages
`-- a
`-- package.json
The workspaces init also supports the npm init <initializer> -w <dir>
syntax, following the same set of rules explained earlier in the initial
Description section of this page. Similar to the previous example of
creating a new React-based project using
create-react-app
, the following syntax
will make sure to create the new react app as a nested workspace within your
project and configure your package.json
to recognize it as such:
npm init -w packages/my-react-app react-app .
This will make sure to generate your react app as expected, one important
consideration to have in mind is that npm exec
is going to be run in the
context of the newly created folder for that workspace, and that's the reason
why in this example the initializer uses the initializer name followed with a
dot to represent the current directory in that context, e.g: react-app .
:
.
+-- package.json
`-- packages
+-- a
| `-- package.json
`-- my-react-app
+-- README
+-- package.json
`-- ...
Configuration
yes
- Default: null
- Type: null or Boolean
Automatically answer "yes" to any prompts that npm might print on the command line.
force
- Default: false
- Type: Boolean
Removes various protections against unfortunate side effects, common mistakes, unnecessary performance degradation, and malicious input.
- Allow clobbering non-npm files in global installs.
- Allow the
npm version
command to work on an unclean git repository. - Allow deleting the cache folder with
npm cache clean
. - Allow installing packages that have an
engines
declaration requiring a different version of npm. - Allow installing packages that have an
engines
declaration requiring a different version ofnode
, even if--engine-strict
is enabled. - Allow
npm audit fix
to install modules outside your stated dependency range (including SemVer-major changes). - Allow unpublishing all versions of a published package.
- Allow conflicting peerDependencies to be installed in the root project.
- Implicitly set
--yes
duringnpm init
. - Allow clobbering existing values in
npm pkg
- Allow unpublishing of entire packages (not just a single version).
If you don't have a clear idea of what you want to do, it is strongly recommended that you do not use this option!
workspace
- Default:
- Type: String (can be set multiple times)
Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of the current project while filtering by running only the workspaces defined by this configuration option.
Valid values for the workspace
config are either:
- Workspace names
- Path to a workspace directory
- Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all workspaces within that folder)
When set for the npm init
command, this may be set to the folder of a
workspace which does not yet exist, to create the folder and set it up as a
brand new workspace within the project.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
workspaces
- Default: null
- Type: null or Boolean
Set to true to run the command in the context of all configured workspaces.
Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like install
to
ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:
- Commands that operate on the
node_modules
tree (install, update, etc.) will link workspaces into thenode_modules
folder. - Commands that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the root project, unless one or more workspaces are specified in theworkspace
config.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
workspaces-update
- Default: true
- Type: Boolean
If set to true, the npm cli will run an update after operations that may
possibly change the workspaces installed to the node_modules
folder.
include-workspace-root
- Default: false
- Type: Boolean
Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.
When false, specifying individual workspaces via the workspace
config, or
all workspaces via the workspaces
flag, will cause npm to operate only on
the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.