<!doctype html> <html> <title>npm-link</title> <meta charset="utf-8"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../static/style.css"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.npmjs.org/doc/cli/npm-link.html"> <script async=true src="../../static/toc.js"></script> <body> <div id="wrapper"> <h1><a href="../cli/npm-link.html">npm-link</a></h1> <p>Symlink a package folder</p> <h2 id="synopsis">SYNOPSIS</h2> <pre><code>npm link (in package dir) npm link [<@scope>/]<pkg>[@<version>] alias: npm ln</code></pre><h2 id="description">DESCRIPTION</h2> <p>Package linking is a two-step process.</p> <p>First, <code>npm link</code> in a package folder will create a symlink in the global folder <code>{prefix}/lib/node_modules/<package></code> that links to the package where the <code>npm link</code> command was executed. (see <code><a href="../misc/npm-config.html">npm-config(7)</a></code> for the value of <code>prefix</code>). It will also link any bins in the package to <code>{prefix}/bin/{name}</code>.</p> <p>Next, in some other location, <code>npm link package-name</code> will create a symbolic link from globally-installed <code>package-name</code> to <code>node_modules/</code> of the current folder.</p> <p>Note that <code>package-name</code> is taken from <code>package.json</code>, not from directory name.</p> <p>The package name can be optionally prefixed with a scope. See <code><a href="../misc/npm-scope.html">npm-scope(7)</a></code>. The scope must be preceded by an @-symbol and followed by a slash.</p> <p>When creating tarballs for <code>npm publish</code>, the linked packages are "snapshotted" to their current state by resolving the symbolic links.</p> <p>This is handy for installing your own stuff, so that you can work on it and test it iteratively without having to continually rebuild.</p> <p>For example:</p> <pre><code>cd ~/projects/node-redis # go into the package directory npm link # creates global link cd ~/projects/node-bloggy # go into some other package directory. npm link redis # link-install the package</code></pre><p>Now, any changes to ~/projects/node-redis will be reflected in ~/projects/node-bloggy/node_modules/node-redis/. Note that the link should be to the package name, not the directory name for that package.</p> <p>You may also shortcut the two steps in one. For example, to do the above use-case in a shorter way:</p> <pre><code>cd ~/projects/node-bloggy # go into the dir of your main project npm link ../node-redis # link the dir of your dependency</code></pre><p>The second line is the equivalent of doing:</p> <pre><code>(cd ../node-redis; npm link) npm link redis</code></pre><p>That is, it first creates a global link, and then links the global installation target into your project's <code>node_modules</code> folder.</p> <p>Note that in this case, you are referring to the directory name, <code>node-redis</code>, rather than the package name <code>redis</code>.</p> <p>If your linked package is scoped (see <code><a href="../misc/npm-scope.html">npm-scope(7)</a></code>) your link command must include that scope, e.g.</p> <pre><code>npm link @myorg/privatepackage</code></pre><h2 id="see-also">SEE ALSO</h2> <ul> <li><a href="../misc/npm-developers.html">npm-developers(7)</a></li> <li><a href="../files/package.json.html">package.json(5)</a></li> <li><a href="../cli/npm-install.html">npm-install(1)</a></li> <li><a href="../files/npm-folders.html">npm-folders(5)</a></li> <li><a href="../cli/npm-config.html">npm-config(1)</a></li> <li><a href="../misc/npm-config.html">npm-config(7)</a></li> <li><a href="../files/npmrc.html">npmrc(5)</a></li> </ul> </div> <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 id=npmlogo> <tr><td style="width:180px;height:10px;background:rgb(237,127,127)" colspan=18> </td></tr> <tr><td rowspan=4 style="width:10px;height:10px;background:rgb(237,127,127)"> </td><td style="width:40px;height:10px;background:#fff" colspan=4> </td><td style="width:10px;height:10px;background:rgb(237,127,127)" rowspan=4> </td><td style="width:40px;height:10px;background:#fff" colspan=4> </td><td rowspan=4 style="width:10px;height:10px;background:rgb(237,127,127)"> </td><td colspan=6 style="width:60px;height:10px;background:#fff"> </td><td style="width:10px;height:10px;background:rgb(237,127,127)" rowspan=4> </td></tr> <tr><td colspan=2 style="width:20px;height:30px;background:#fff" rowspan=3> </td><td style="width:10px;height:10px;background:rgb(237,127,127)" rowspan=3> </td><td style="width:10px;height:10px;background:#fff" rowspan=3> </td><td style="width:20px;height:10px;background:#fff" rowspan=4 colspan=2> </td><td style="width:10px;height:20px;background:rgb(237,127,127)" rowspan=2> </td><td style="width:10px;height:10px;background:#fff" rowspan=3> </td><td style="width:20px;height:10px;background:#fff" rowspan=3 colspan=2> </td><td style="width:10px;height:10px;background:rgb(237,127,127)" rowspan=3> </td><td style="width:10px;height:10px;background:#fff" rowspan=3> </td><td style="width:10px;height:10px;background:rgb(237,127,127)" rowspan=3> </td></tr> <tr><td style="width:10px;height:10px;background:#fff" rowspan=2> </td></tr> <tr><td style="width:10px;height:10px;background:#fff"> </td></tr> <tr><td style="width:60px;height:10px;background:rgb(237,127,127)" colspan=6> </td><td colspan=10 style="width:10px;height:10px;background:rgb(237,127,127)"> </td></tr> <tr><td colspan=5 style="width:50px;height:10px;background:#fff"> </td><td style="width:40px;height:10px;background:rgb(237,127,127)" colspan=4> </td><td style="width:90px;height:10px;background:#fff" colspan=9> </td></tr> </table> <p id="footer">npm-link — npm@6.5.0</p>