read-pkg-up

What is read-pkg-up?

The read-pkg-up npm package is used to read the nearest package.json file in a directory tree. It starts from the specified directory and searches upwards for a package.json file, then parses it and returns the result. This can be useful for Node.js projects that need to access metadata about themselves or their dependencies.

What are read-pkg-up's main functionalities?

Read the closest package.json

This feature allows you to asynchronously read the nearest package.json file from the current directory and log its contents and the path where it was found.

const readPkgUp = require('read-pkg-up');

(async () => {
  const { packageJson, path } = await readPkgUp();
  console.log(packageJson);
  console.log(`Found at ${path}`);
})();

Synchronous reading of package.json

This feature provides a synchronous method to read the nearest package.json file and log its contents and the path where it was found.

const readPkgUp = require('read-pkg-up');

const { packageJson, path } = readPkgUp.sync();
console.log(packageJson);
console.log(`Found at ${path}`);

Custom starting directory

This feature allows you to specify a custom starting directory when searching for the package.json file.

const readPkgUp = require('read-pkg-up');

(async () => {
  const { packageJson, path } = await readPkgUp({ cwd: 'some/subdirectory' });
  console.log(packageJson);
  console.log(`Found at ${path}`);
})();

Other packages similar to read-pkg-up

read-pkg

read-pkg is similar to read-pkg-up but does not search upwards from the current directory. It simply reads the package.json file from the specified directory or the current directory if no directory is specified. It is less flexible when you need to find package.json files in parent directories.

pkg-up

pkg-up is another package that finds the closest package.json file by searching upwards from a given directory. It is similar to read-pkg-up but does not read or parse the package.json file, it only returns the path to it. This package is useful if you only need the path and not the contents.

find-up

find-up is a more general tool that can be used to find files or directories by searching upwards from a given directory. While it is not limited to package.json files, it can be used for a similar purpose as read-pkg-up. However, it requires additional work to read and parse the package.json file after finding it.

README

read-pkg-up

Read the closest package.json file

Why

• Finds the closest package.json
• Throws more helpful JSON errors
• Normalizes the data

Install

npm install read-pkg-up

Usage

import {readPackageUp} from 'read-pkg-up';

console.log(await readPackageUp());
/*
{
	packageJson: {
		name: 'awesome-package',
		version: '1.0.0',
		…
	},
	path: '/Users/sindresorhus/dev/awesome-package/package.json'
}
*/

API

readPackageUp(options?)

Returns a Promise<object>, or Promise<undefined> if no package.json was found.

readPackageUpSync(options?)

Returns the result object, or undefined if no package.json was found.

options

Type: object

cwd

Type: URL | string
Default: process.cwd()

The directory to start looking for a package.json file.

normalize

Type: boolean
Default: true

Normalize the package data.

Related

• read-pkg - Read a package.json file
• pkg-up - Find the closest package.json file
• find-up - Find a file by walking up parent directories
• pkg-conf - Get namespaced config from the closest package.json