Enable two-factor authentication on an npm account
domain: npm · 6 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Ensure npm is authenticated as the account to protect (npm whoami).
Run: npm profile enable-2fa auth-and-writes (the default mode) to require a one-time password on login, auth changes, and every publish/ownership/access change.
For login-only protection, run npm profile enable-2fa auth-only instead.
Complete the interactive setup (scan the code / enter the one-time password) that npm presents.
Verify with npm profile get two-factor-auth and confirm the reported mode.
Official docs: https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v10/commands/npm-profile
Known gotchas
auth-and-writes (the default) also demands an OTP on npm publish, on setting the latest dist-tag, and on npm access / npm owner changes.
auth-only only requires the OTP when logging in or changing authentication settings.
The profile interface depends on the registry implementation; third-party or self-hosted registries may not support enabling 2FA via this command.
Once enabled, every credential-using operation needs a valid otp, so factor that into CI or store separate machine tokens.
Disable with npm profile disable-2fa if you ever need to revert.
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