/var/lang/lib/node_modules/npm/docs/output/configuring-npm
This explorer reads the filesystem of the server it runs on, so /workspace/user isn't present here. Browsing and the terminal still work against this server's own disk from /.
<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset="utf-8"><title>Folders</title><style>body { background-color: #ffffff; color: #24292e; margin: 0; line-height: 1.5; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji";}#rainbar { height: 10px; background-image: linear-gradient(139deg, #fb8817, #ff4b01, #c12127, #e02aff);} a { text-decoration: none; color: #0366d6;}a:hover { text-decoration: underline;} pre { margin: 1em 0px; padding: 1em; border: solid 1px #e1e4e8; border-radius: 6px; display: block; overflow: auto; white-space: pre; background-color: #f6f8fa; color: #393a34;}code { font-family: SFMono-Regular, Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Menlo, Courier, monospace; font-size: 85%; padding: 0.2em 0.4em; background-color: #f6f8fa; color: #393a34;}pre > code { padding: 0; background-color: inherit; color: inherit;}h1, h2, h3 { font-weight: 600;} #logobar { background-color: #333333; margin: 0 auto; padding: 1em 4em;}#logobar .logo { float: left;}#logobar .title { font-weight: 600; color: #dddddd; float: left; margin: 5px 0 0 1em;}#logobar:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both;} #content { margin: 0 auto; padding: 0 4em;} #table_of_contents > h2 { font-size: 1.17em;}#table_of_contents ul:first-child { border: solid 1px #e1e4e8; border-radius: 6px; padding: 1em; background-color: #f6f8fa; color: #393a34;}#table_of_contents ul { list-style-type: none; padding-left: 1.5em;}#table_of_contents li { font-size: 0.9em;}#table_of_contents li a { color: #000000;} header.title { border-bottom: solid 1px #e1e4e8;}header.title > h1 { margin-bottom: 0.25em;}header.title > .description { display: block; margin-bottom: 0.5em; line-height: 1;} header.title .version { font-size: 0.8em; color: #666666;} footer#edit { border-top: solid 1px #e1e4e8; margin: 3em 0 4em 0; padding-top: 2em;} table { width: 100%; margin: 1em 0; border-radius: 6px; border: 1px solid #e1e4e8; overflow: hidden; border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0;} table thead { background-color: #f6f8fa;} table tbody { background-color: #ffffff;} table th,table td { padding: 0.75em; text-align: left; border-right: 1px solid #e1e4e8; border-bottom: 1px solid #e1e4e8;} table th:last-child,table td:last-child { border-right: none;} table tbody tr:last-child td { border-bottom: none;} table th { font-weight: 600; background-color: #f6f8fa;} table code { white-space: nowrap;} </style></head><body><div id="banner"><div id="rainbar"></div><div id="logobar"><svg class="logo" role="img" height="32" width="32" viewBox="0 0 700 700"><polygon fill="#cb0000" points="0,700 700,700 700,0 0,0"></polygon><polygon fill="#ffffff" points="150,550 350,550 350,250 450,250 450,550 550,550 550,150 150,150"></polygon></svg><div class="title">npm command-line interface</div></div></div> <section id="content"><header class="title"><h1 id="----folders----11110"> <span>Folders</span> <span class="version">@11.11.0</span></h1><span class="description">Folder structures used by npm</span></header> <section id="table_of_contents"><h2 id="table-of-contents">Table of contents</h2><div id="_table_of_contents"><ul><li><a href="#description">Description</a></li><ul><li><a href="#tldr">tl;dr</a></li><li><a href="#prefix-configuration">prefix Configuration</a></li><li><a href="#node-modules">Node Modules</a></li><li><a href="#executables">Executables</a></li><li><a href="#man-pages">Man Pages</a></li><li><a href="#cache">Cache</a></li></ul><li><a href="#more-information">More Information</a></li><ul><li><a href="#global-installation">Global Installation</a></li><li><a href="#cycles-conflicts-and-folder-parsimony">Cycles, Conflicts, and Folder Parsimony</a></li><li><a href="#example">Example</a></li><li><a href="#publishing">Publishing</a></li></ul><li><a href="#see-also">See also</a></li></ul></div></section> <div id="_content"><h3 id="description">Description</h3><p>npm puts various things on your computer.That's its job.</p><p>This document will tell you what it puts where.</p><h4 id="tldr">tl;dr</h4><ul><li>Local install (default): puts stuff in <code>./node_modules</code> of the current package root.</li><li>Global install (with <code>-g</code>): puts stuff in /usr/local or wherever node is installed.</li><li>Install it <strong>locally</strong> if you're going to <code>require()</code> it.</li><li>Install it <strong>globally</strong> if you're going to run it on the command line.</li><li>If you need both, then install it in both places, or use <code>npm link</code>.</li></ul><h4 id="prefix-configuration">prefix Configuration</h4><p>The <a href="../using-npm/config#prefix.html"><code>prefix</code> config</a> defaults to the location where node is installed.On most systems, this is <code>/usr/local</code>.On Windows, it's <code>%AppData%\npm</code>.On Unix systems, it's one level up, since node is typically installed at <code>{prefix}/bin/node</code> rather than <code>{prefix}/node.exe</code>.</p><p>When the <code>global</code> flag is set, npm installs things into this prefix.When it is not set, it uses the root of the current package, or the current working directory if not in a package already.</p><h4 id="node-modules">Node Modules</h4><p>Packages are dropped into the <code>node_modules</code> folder under the <code>prefix</code>.When installing locally, this means that you can <code>require("packagename")</code> to load its main module, or <code>require("packagename/lib/path/to/sub/module")</code> to load other modules.</p><p>Global installs on Unix systems go to <code>{prefix}/lib/node_modules</code>.Global installs on Windows go to <code>{prefix}/node_modules</code> (that is, no <code>lib</code> folder.)</p><p>Scoped packages are installed the same way, except they are grouped together in a sub-folder of the relevant <code>node_modules</code> folder with the name of that scope prefix by the @ symbol, e.g. <code>npm install @myorg/package</code> would place the package in <code>{prefix}/node_modules/@myorg/package</code>.See <a href="../using-npm/scope.html"><code>scope</code></a> for more details.</p><p>If you wish to <code>require()</code> a package, then install it locally.</p><h4 id="executables">Executables</h4><p>When in global mode, executables are linked into <code>{prefix}/bin</code> on Unix, or directly into <code>{prefix}</code> on Windows.Ensure that path is in your terminal's <code>PATH</code> environment to run them.</p><p>When in local mode, executables are linked into <code>./node_modules/.bin</code> so that they can be made available to scripts run through npm.(For example, so that a test runner will be in the path when you run <code>npm test</code>.)</p><h4 id="man-pages">Man Pages</h4><p>When in global mode, man pages are linked into <code>{prefix}/share/man</code>.</p><p>When in local mode, man pages are not installed.</p><p>Man pages are not installed on Windows systems.</p><h4 id="cache">Cache</h4><p>See <a href="../commands/npm-cache.html"><code>npm cache</code></a>.Cache files are stored in <code>~/.npm</code> on Posix, or <code>%LocalAppData%/npm-cache</code> on Windows.</p><p>This is controlled by the <a href="../using-npm/config#cache.html"><code>cache</code> config</a> param.</p><h3 id="more-information">More Information</h3><p>When installing locally, npm first tries to find an appropriate <code>prefix</code> folder.This is so that <code>npm install foo@1.2.3</code> will install to the sensible root of your package, even if you happen to have <code>cd</code>ed into some other folder.</p><p>Starting at the $PWD, npm will walk up the folder tree checking for a folder that contains either a <code>package.json</code> file, or a <code>node_modules</code> folder.If such a thing is found, then that is treated as the effective "current directory" for the purpose of running npm commands.(This behavior is inspired by and similar to git's .git-folder seeking logic when running git commands in a working dir.)</p><p>If no package root is found, then the current folder is used.</p><p>When you run <code>npm install foo@1.2.3</code>, then the package is loaded into the cache, and then unpacked into <code>./node_modules/foo</code>.Then, any of foo's dependencies are similarly unpacked into <code>./node_modules/foo/node_modules/...</code>.</p><p>Any bin files are symlinked to <code>./node_modules/.bin/</code>, so that they may be found by npm scripts when necessary.</p><h4 id="global-installation">Global Installation</h4><p>If the <a href="../using-npm/config#global.html"><code>global</code> config</a> is set to true, then npm will install packages "globally".</p><p>For global installation, packages are installed roughly the same way, but using the folders described above.</p><h4 id="cycles-conflicts-and-folder-parsimony">Cycles, Conflicts, and Folder Parsimony</h4><p>Cycles are handled using the property of node's module system that it walks up the directories looking for <code>node_modules</code> folders.So, at every stage, if a package is already installed in an ancestor <code>node_modules</code> folder, then it is not installed at the current location.</p><p>Consider the case above, where <code>foo -> bar -> baz</code>.Imagine if, in addition to that, baz depended on bar, so you'd have:<code>foo -> bar -> baz -> bar -> baz ...</code>.However, since the folder structure is: <code>foo/node_modules/bar/node_modules/baz</code>, there's no need to put another copy of bar into <code>.../baz/node_modules</code>, since when baz calls <code>require("bar")</code>, it will get the copy that is installed in <code>foo/node_modules/bar</code>.</p><p>This shortcut is only used if the exact same version would be installed in multiple nested <code>node_modules</code> folders.It is still possible to have <code>a/node_modules/b/node_modules/a</code> if the two "a" packages are different versions.However, without repeating the exact same package multiple times, an infinite regress will always be prevented.</p><p>Another optimization can be made by installing dependencies at the highest level possible, below the localized "target" folder (hoisting).Since version 3, npm hoists dependencies by default.</p><h4 id="example">Example</h4><p>Consider this dependency graph:</p><pre><code class="language-bash">foo+-- blerg@1.2.5+-- bar@1.2.3| +-- blerg@1.x (latest=1.3.7)| +-- baz@2.x| | `-- quux@3.x| | `-- bar@1.2.3 (cycle)| `-- asdf@*`-- baz@1.2.3 `-- quux@3.x `-- bar</code></pre><p>In this case, we might expect a folder structure like this (with all dependencies hoisted to the highest level possible):</p><pre><code class="language-bash">foo+-- node_modules +-- blerg (1.2.5) <---[A] +-- bar (1.2.3) <---[B] | +-- node_modules | +-- baz (2.0.2) <---[C] +-- asdf (2.3.4) +-- baz (1.2.3) <---[D] +-- quux (3.2.0) <---[E]</code></pre><p>Since foo depends directly on <code>bar@1.2.3</code> and <code>baz@1.2.3</code>, those are installed in foo's <code>node_modules</code> folder.</p><p>Even though the latest copy of blerg is 1.3.7, foo has a specific dependency on version 1.2.5.So, that gets installed at [A].Since the parent installation of blerg satisfies bar's dependency on <code>blerg@1.x</code>, it does not install another copy under [B].</p><p>Bar [B] also has dependencies on baz and asdf.Because it depends on <code>baz@2.x</code>, it cannot re-use the <code>baz@1.2.3</code> installed in the parent <code>node_modules</code> folder [D], and must install its own copy [C].In order to minimize duplication, npm hoists dependencies to the top level by default, so asdf is installed under [A].</p><p>Underneath bar, the <code>baz -> quux -> bar</code> dependency creates a cycle.However, because bar is already in quux's ancestry [B], it does not unpack another copy of bar into that folder.Likewise, quux's [E] folder tree is empty, because its dependency on bar is satisfied by the parent folder copy installed at [B].</p><p>For a graphical breakdown of what is installed where, use <code>npm ls</code>.</p><h4 id="publishing">Publishing</h4><p>Upon publishing, npm will look in the <code>node_modules</code> folder.If any of the items there are not in the <code>bundleDependencies</code> array, then they will not be included in the package tarball.</p><p>This allows a package maintainer to install all of their dependencies (and dev dependencies) locally, but only re-publish those items that cannot be found elsewhere.See <a href="../configuring-npm/package-json.html"><code>package.json</code></a> for more information.</p><h3 id="see-also">See also</h3><ul><li><a href="../configuring-npm/package-json.html">package.json</a></li><li><a href="../commands/npm-install.html">npm install</a></li><li><a href="../commands/npm-pack.html">npm pack</a></li><li><a href="../commands/npm-cache.html">npm cache</a></li><li><a href="../commands/npm-config.html">npm config</a></li><li><a href="../configuring-npm/npmrc.html">npmrc</a></li><li><a href="../using-npm/config.html">config</a></li><li><a href="../commands/npm-publish.html">npm publish</a></li></ul></div> <footer id="edit"><a href="https://github.com/npm/cli/edit/latest/docs/lib/content/configuring-npm/folders.md"><svg role="img" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16" height="16" fill="currentcolor" style="vertical-align: text-bottom; margin-right: 0.3em;"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M11.013 1.427a1.75 1.75 0 012.474 0l1.086 1.086a1.75 1.75 0 010 2.474l-8.61 8.61c-.21.21-.47.364-.756.445l-3.251.93a.75.75 0 01-.927-.928l.929-3.25a1.75 1.75 0 01.445-.758l8.61-8.61zm1.414 1.06a.25.25 0 00-.354 0L10.811 3.75l1.439 1.44 1.263-1.263a.25.25 0 000-.354l-1.086-1.086zM11.189 6.25L9.75 4.81l-6.286 6.287a.25.25 0 00-.064.108l-.558 1.953 1.953-.558a.249.249 0 00.108-.064l6.286-6.286z"></path></svg>Edit this page on GitHub</a></footer></section> </body></html>