Publish an npm package to the public registry for the first time
domain: npmjs.com · 5 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Ensure package.json has a unique name, a valid semantic version, a description, and a license; run npm init to scaffold if you don't have one.
Log in to the registry so your credentials are saved to .npmrc (npm login).
Preview the tarball contents with `npm pack --dry-run` to confirm only intended files ship.
Publish with `npm publish` (or `npm publish --access public` for a scoped package intended to be public).
Confirm it landed with `npm view <name> version` and check the package page on npmjs.com.
Known gotchas
The publish fails if the name and version combination already exists in the registry - each name+version pair is immutable once published, even after unpublish.
The default value for `access` is 'public' for brand-new packages, so unscoped publishes are public by default; unscoped packages can never be set to restricted.
If two-factor auth is enabled on auth-and-writes, include the one-time password via --otp or npm prompts for it on the command line.
All files are included by default except those matched by ignore rules; if a `files` array exists in package.json it whitelists exactly what ships. Symbolic links are never included.
Official docs: https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v10/commands/npm-publish
Official docs: https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v10/using-npm/developers
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