Publishing Your First NPM Package

Feb 9, 2023

Publishing Your First NPM Package

This document provides an outline on the steps to take when publishing your first NPM package.

1. Create the package files
2. Create a package.json file
3. Publish the package
4. Maintain the package

Create the package files

In your computer, create a new directory and open a terminal.

In the terminal type npm init and the tool will ask for information about your new package.

After the operation finishes, you will find a single file named package.json inside it is where all the information about your package is kept.

Adding the actual package

Now you can create a file such as index.js and add your code. This works similar to any other project but you must remember to export the functions that you need.

Publish package

npm publish would publish your package but you must first be logged-in to your NPM account via npm login.

Maintain package

What if you want to change the code or maybe update the readme file?

You can only push those updates by doing a version update. This is where you package’s version goes from 1.0.0 to 1.0.1 for example.

Here is how to do it:

After you change you code, use npm version <update_type> in the terminal where update_type is either patch, major, or minor (more info). Then use npm publish to push the changes to NPM.

For example, here is how I might change the readme on an already published package:

1. Do the changes.
2. run npm version patch (patch is for small changes)
3. run npm publish