/usr/share/doc/npm/cli/npm-link.html

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<h2 id="NAME">NAME</h2>
<p class="man-name">
  <code>npm-link</code> - <span class="man-whatis">Symlink a package folder</span>
</p>

<h2 id="SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</h2>

<pre><code>npm link (in package folder)
npm link &lt;pkgname>
npm ln (with any of the previous argument usage)
</code></pre>

<h2 id="DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</h2>

<p>Package linking is a two-step process.</p>

<p>First, <code>npm link</code> in a package folder will create a globally-installed
symbolic link from <code>prefix/package-name</code> to the current folder.</p>

<p>Next, in some other location, <code>npm link package-name</code> will create a
symlink from the local <code>node_modules</code> folder to the global symlink.</p>

<p>Note that <code>package-name</code> is taken from <code>package.json</code>,
not from directory name.</p>

<p>When creating tarballs for <code>npm publish</code>, the linked packages are
"snapshotted" to their current state by resolving the symbolic links.</p>

<p>This is
handy for installing your own stuff, so that you can work on it and test it
iteratively without having to continually rebuild.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<pre><code>cd ~/projects/node-redis    # go into the package directory
npm link                    # creates global link
cd ~/projects/node-bloggy   # go into some other package directory.
npm link redis              # link-install the package
</code></pre>

<p>Now, any changes to ~/projects/node-redis will be reflected in
~/projects/node-bloggy/node_modules/redis/</p>

<p>You may also shortcut the two steps in one.  For example, to do the
above use-case in a shorter way:</p>

<pre><code>cd ~/projects/node-bloggy  # go into the dir of your main project
npm link ../node-redis     # link the dir of your dependency
</code></pre>

<p>The second line is the equivalent of doing:</p>

<pre><code>(cd ../node-redis; npm link)
npm link redis
</code></pre>

<p>That is, it first creates a global link, and then links the global
installation target into your project's <code>node_modules</code> folder.</p>

<h2 id="SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</h2>

<ul>
<li><span class="man-ref">npm-developers<span class="s">(7)</span></span></li>
<li><span class="man-ref">npm-faq<span class="s">(7)</span></span></li>
<li><span class="man-ref">package.json<span class="s">(5)</span></span></li>
<li><span class="man-ref">npm-install<span class="s">(1)</span></span></li>
<li><span class="man-ref">npm-folders<span class="s">(5)</span></span></li>
<li><span class="man-ref">npm-config<span class="s">(1)</span></span></li>
<li><span class="man-ref">npm-config<span class="s">(7)</span></span></li>
<li><span class="man-ref">npmrc<span class="s">(5)</span></span></li>
</ul>


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<p id="footer">npm-link &mdash; npm@1.3.10</p>
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