Boost Your Node.js Workflow: Essential npm Config Tricks You Need

As a Node.js developer, npm is a highly configurable CLI tool that we use every day. Below are several useful npm configurations that can make your daily work more efficient.

Automate npm init

When running npm init, npm asks a series of fixed questions. You can provide default values directly:

npm config set init.author.name "Hiro Protagonist"
npm config set init.author.email "[email protected]"
npm config set init.author.url "http://hiro.snowcrash.io"
npm config set init.license "MIT"
npm config set init.version "0.0.1"

Change default registry

In special scenarios you may need to point npm to a custom registry. One command is enough:

npm config set registry "https://my-custom-registry.registry.nodesource.io/"

Adjust npm install log level

During npm install a lot of logs are printed. You can change the log level with: npm config set loglevel="http" Available log levels are: silent, error, warn, http, info, verbose, silly.

Change global modules installation location

This setting is handy to avoid using sudo when installing global packages, and it also works well with nvm (which resets the prefix after switching Node versions).

mkdir ~/.global-modules
npm config set prefix "~/.global-modules"

Remember to add this path to your PATH environment variable:

# .bashrc or .zshrc
export PATH=~/.global-modules/bin:$PATH

Got these tips? Check the original article for more details.