How to Publish a Package

You can publish any directory that has a package.json file, for example, a node module. (To understand the difference between node modules and other types of packages, click here.

Creating a user

To publish, you must be a user on the npm registry. If you aren't a user, create an account by using npm adduser. If you created a user account on the site, use npm login to store the credentials on your client.

Test:

1. Type npm whoami from a terminal to ensure that your credentials are stored on your client.
2. Check that the user has been added to the registry at https://npmjs.com/~username.

For example,

https://www.npmjs.com/~carolynawombat

Publishing the package

Choose a unique name for your package. Try to choose a descriptive name that:

• isn't already owned by somebody else
• is not spelled like another name, but with typos
• will not confuse others about the authorship

Note: Naming is not an issue if you are working with scopes.

Use npm publish to publish the package.

Note that everything in the directory will be included unless it is ignored by a local .gitignore or .npmignore file as described in npm-developers.

Test: Go to https://npmjs.com/package/<package>. You should see the information for your new package.

Congratulations on Publishing!

Now that you've published your first package (congratulations!) it's a great time to review npm's code of conduct in case you have questions about site etiquette or other npm policies. (Scroll down on the doc page to see the policies).

Updating the package

How To Update the Version Number

When you make changes, you can update the package using

npm version <update_type>

where <update_type> is one of the semantic versioning release types, patch, minor, or major.

This command will change the version number in package.json.

Note: this will also add a tag with the updated release number to your git repository if you have one.

After updating the version number, run npm publish again.

Test: Go to https://npmjs.com/package/<package>. The package number should be updated.

How to Update the Read Me File

The README displayed on the site will not be updated unless a new version of your package is published, so you would need to run npm version patch and npm publish to have a documentation fix displayed on the site.

Learn More

To find out more about node modules and packages, see here.

To learn about semantic versioning, click here.

To learn more about tags, click here.

To learn more about package.json files, click here.