One of the following versions of Node.js must be installed to run npm
:
12.x.x
>=12.13.0
14.x.x
>=14.15.0
16.0.0
or higher
npm
comes bundled with node
, & most third-party distributions, by default. Officially supported downloads/distributions can be found at: nodejs.org/en/download
You can download & install npm
directly from npmjs.com using our custom install.sh
script:
curl -qL https://www.npmjs.com/install.sh | sh
If you're looking to manage multiple versions of node
&/or npm
, consider using a "Node Version Manager" such as:
npm <command>
- Documentation - Official docs & how-tos for all things npm
- Note: you can also search docs locally with
npm help-search <query>
- Note: you can also search docs locally with
- Bug Tracker - Search or submit bugs against the CLI
- Roadmap - Track & follow along with our public roadmap
- Feedback - Contribute ideas & discussion around the npm registry, website & CLI
- RFCs - Contribute ideas & specifications for the API/design of the npm CLI
- Service Status - Monitor the current status & see incident reports for the website & registry
- Project Status - See the health of all our maintained OSS projects in one view
- Events Calendar - Keep track of our Open RFC calls, releases, meetups, conferences & more
- Support - Experiencing problems with the npm website or registry? File a ticket here
npm
is configured to use the npm Public Registry at https://registry.npmjs.org by default; Usage of this registry is subject to Terms of Use available at https://npmjs.com/policies/terms- You can configure
npm
to use any other compatible registry you prefer. You can read more about configuring third-party registries here
npm
should never be capitalized unless it is being displayed in a location that is customarily all-capitals (ex. titles on man
pages).
Contrary to popular belief, npm
is not in fact an acronym for "Node Package Manager"; It is a recursive bacronymic abbreviation for "npm is not an acronym" (if the project was named "ninaa", then it would be an acronym). The precursor to npm
was actually a bash utility named "pm", which was the short form name of "pkgmakeinst" - a bash function that installed various things on various platforms. If npm
were to ever have been considered an acronym, it would be as "node pm" or, potentially "new pm".