Control which files ship in an npm package with the files field
domain: docs.npmjs.com · 5 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Edit package.json and add a `files` array of .gitignore-style patterns (reversed: patterns INCLUDE files in the tarball).
List only the paths that should ship, e.g. "files": ["dist", "lib", "README.md"]; directories are walked recursively.
Omit the files field entirely to ship everything (default ["*"]).
Run `npm pack --dry-run` to confirm the tarball contains exactly those files.
Add a ! un-ignore rule for any file pattern you explicitly want to force back in.
Known gotchas
Always included regardless of files: package.json, README, LICENSE (any casing/extension), and files referenced by main and bin.
Always ignored and cannot be included even with globs: .git, .npmrc, node_modules, package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock.
A `.npmignore` at the package root does NOT override the files field; the files array takes precedence (npmignore applies only to what files doesn't include).
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