@npmcli/package-json

@npmcli/package-json

Programmatic API to update package.json files. Updates and saves files the same way the npm cli handles them.

Install

npm install @npmcli/package-json

Usage:

const PackageJson = require('@npmcli/package-json')
const pkgJson = await PackageJson.load(path)
// $ cat package.json
// {
//   "name": "foo",
//   "version": "1.0.0",
//   "dependencies": {
//     "a": "^1.0.0",
//     "abbrev": "^1.1.1"
//   }
// }

pkgJson.update({
  dependencies: {
    a: '^1.0.0',
    b: '^1.2.3',
  },
  workspaces: [
    './new-workspace',
  ],
})

await pkgJson.save()
// $ cat package.json
// {
//   "name": "foo",
//   "version": "1.0.0",
//   "dependencies": {
//     "a": "^1.0.0",
//     "b": "^1.2.3"
//   },
//   "workspaces": [
//     "./new-workspace"
//   ]
// }

There is also a helper function exported for opening a package.json file with no extra normalization or saving functionality.

const { readPackage } = require('@npmcli/package-json/lib/read-package')
const rawData = await readPackage('./package.json')
// rawData will now have the package.json contents with no changes or normalizations

API:

constructor()

Creates a new empty instance of PackageJson.

async PackageJson.create(path)

Creates an empty package.json at the given path. If one already exists it will be overwritten.

async PackageJson.load(path, opts = {})

Loads a package.json at the given path.

• opts: Object can contain:
  • create: Boolean if true, a new package.json will be created if one does not already exist. Will not clobber ane existing package.json that can not be parsed.

Example:

Loads contents of a package.json file located at ./:

const PackageJson = require('@npmcli/package-json')
const pkgJson = new PackageJson()
await pkgJson.load('./')

Throws an error in case a package.json file is missing or has invalid contents.

static async PackageJson.load(path)

Convenience static method that returns a new instance and loads the contents of a package.json file from that location.

• path: String that points to the folder from where to read the package.json from

Example:

Loads contents of a package.json file located at ./:

const PackageJson = require('@npmcli/package-json')
const pkgJson = await PackageJson.load('./')

async PackageJson.normalize()

Intended for normalizing package.json files in a node_modules tree. Some light normalization is done to ensure that it is ready for use in @npmcli/arborist

• path: String that points to the folder from where to read the package.json from
• opts: Object can contain:
  • strict: Boolean enables optional strict mode when applying the normalizeData step
  • steps: Array optional normalization steps that will be applied to the package.json file, replacing the default steps
  • root: Path optional git root to provide when applying the gitHead step
  • changes: Array if provided, a message about each change that was made to the packument will be added to this array

static async PackageJson.normalize(path, opts = {})

Convenience static that calls load before calling normalize

• path: String that points to the folder from where to read the package.json from
• opts: Object can contain:
  • strict: Boolean enables optional strict mode when applying the normalizeData step
  • steps: Array optional normalization steps that will be applied to the package.json file, replacing the default steps
  • root: Path optional git root to provide when applying the gitHead step
  • changes: Array if provided, a message about each change that was made to the packument will be added to this array

async PackageJson.prepare()

Like normalize but intended for preparing package.json files for publish.

PackageJson.syncNormalize()

This calls normalize synchronously. Most consumers of this package should avoid using this. It was added because some parts of npm were normalizing package content in class constructors and needed this affordance. It will silently ignore any asynchronous steps asked for. Again, this is a compatiblity affordance for some code in npm that is currently impossible to change without a significant semver major change, and is best not used.

static async PackageJson.prepare(path, opts = {})

Convenience static that calls load before calling prepare

• path: String that points to the folder from where to read the package.json from
• opts: Object can contain:
  • strict: Boolean enables optional strict mode when applying the normalizeData step
  • steps: Array optional normalization steps that will be applied to the package.json file, replacing the default steps
  • root: Path optional git root to provide when applying the gitHead step
  • changes: Array if provided, a message about each change that was made to the packument will be added to this array

async PackageJson.fix()

Like normalize but intended for the npm pkg fix command.

PackageJson.update(content)

Updates the contents of a package.json with the content provided.

• content: Object containing the properties to be updated/replaced in the package.json file.

Special properties like dependencies, devDependencies, optionalDependencies, peerDependencies will have special logic to handle the update of these options, such as sorting and deduplication.

Example:

Adds a new script named new-script to your package.json scripts property:

const PackageJson = require('@npmcli/package-json')
const pkgJson = await PackageJson.load('./')
pkgJson.update({
  scripts: {
    ...pkgJson.content.scripts,
    'new-script': 'echo "Bom dia!"'
  }
})

NOTE: When working with dependencies, it's important to provide values for all known dependency types as the update logic has some interdependence in between these properties.

Example:

A safe way to add a devDependency AND remove all peer dependencies of an existing package.json:

const PackageJson = require('@npmcli/package-json')
const pkgJson = await PackageJson.load('./')
pkgJson.update({
  dependencies: pkgJson.content.dependencies,
  devDependencies: {
    ...pkgJson.content.devDependencies,
    foo: '^foo@1.0.0',
  },
  peerDependencies: {},
  optionalDependencies: pkgJson.content.optionalDependencies,
})

get PackageJson.content

Getter that retrieves the normalized Object read from the loaded package.json file.

Example:

const PackageJson = require('@npmcli/package-json')
const pkgJson = await PackageJson.load('./')
pkgJson.content
// -> {
//   name: 'foo',
//   version: '1.0.0'
// }

async PackageJson.save([options])

Saves the current content to the same location used when calling load().

• options: Object (optional)
  • sort: Boolean (optional) — If true, sorts the keys in the resulting package.json file for consistency and readability.

[!NOTE] The sort order for package.json is based on the conventions from sort-package-json, cross-checked with the official npm types and documentation:

• https://github.com/npm/types/blob/main/types/index.d.ts#L104
• https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/configuring-npm/package-json

LICENSE

ISC

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