npm

Technology & Computing abbreviation · Programming

npm
Stands fornpm (often expanded as Node Package Manager)
CategoriesTechnology & Computing

npm stands for npm (often expanded as Node Package Manager), a programming abbreviation.

The default package manager for Node.js and the largest public software registry, used to install, publish and manage JavaScript libraries. Projects list dependencies in package.json, and the npm command installs them into node_modules.

Example: Run npm install, then npm run dev to start the local server.

Usage notes

Created by Isaac Z. Schlueter in 2010; GitHub acquired npm, Inc. in 2020. The project officially says npm is not an acronym, though "Node Package Manager" is the usual expansion, and it is always written lowercase. The registry has suffered supply-chain attacks through hijacked and typosquatted packages, and the 2016 removal of the tiny left-pad package briefly broke thousands of builds. Alternatives include Yarn and pnpm.

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