npm-link(1) npm-link(1)
NAME
npm-link - Symlink a package folder
Synopsis
npm link [<package-spec>]
alias: ln
Description
This is handy for installing your own stuff, so that you can work on it
and test iteratively without having to continually rebuild.
Package linking is a two-step process.
First, npm link in a package folder with no arguments will create a
symlink in the global folder {prefix}/lib/node_modules/<package> that
links to the package where the npm link command was executed. It will
also link any bins in the package to {prefix}/bin/{name}. Note that npm
link uses the global prefix (see npm prefix -g for its value).
Next, in some other location, npm link package-name will create a
symbolic link from globally-installed package-name to node_modules/ of
the current folder.
Note that package-name is taken from package.json, not from the
directory name.
The package name can be optionally prefixed with a scope. See npm help
scope. The scope must be preceded by an @-symbol and followed by a
slash.
When creating tarballs for npm publish, the linked packages are
"snapshotted" to their current state by resolving the symbolic links,
if they are included in bundleDependencies.
For example:
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
Now, any changes to ~/projects/node-redis will be reflected in
~/projects/node-bloggy/node_modules/node-redis/. Note that the link
should be to the package name, not the directory name for that package.
You may also shortcut the two steps in one. For example, to do the
above use-case in a shorter way:
cd ~/projects/node-bloggy # go into the dir of your main project
npm link ../node-redis # link the dir of your dependency
The second line is the equivalent of doing:
(cd ../node-redis; npm link)
npm link redis
That is, it first creates a global link, and then links the global
installation target into your project's node_modules folder.
Note that in this case, you are referring to the directory name, node-
redis, rather than the package name redis.
If your linked package is scoped (see npm help scope) your link command
must include that scope, e.g.
npm link @myorg/privatepackage
Caveat
Note that package dependencies linked in this way are not saved to
package.json by default, on the assumption that the intention is to
have a link stand in for a regular non-link dependency. Otherwise, for
example, if you depend on redis@^3.0.1, and ran npm link redis, it
would replace the ^3.0.1 dependency with file:../path/to/node-redis,
which you probably don't want! Additionally, other users or developers
on your project would run into issues if they do not have their folders
set up exactly the same as yours.
If you are adding a new dependency as a link, you should add it to the
relevant metadata by running npm install <dep> --package-lock-only.
If you want to save the file: reference in your package.json and
package-lock.json files, you can use npm link <dep> --save to do so.
Workspace Usage
npm link <pkg> --workspace <name> will link the relevant package as a
dependency of the specified workspace(s). Note that It may actually be
linked into the parent project's node_modules folder, if there are no
conflicting dependencies.
npm link --workspace <name> will create a global link to the specified
workspace(s).
Configuration
save
o Default: true unless when using npm update where it defaults to
false
o Type: Boolean
Save installed packages to a package.json file as dependencies.
When used with the npm rm command, removes the dependency from
package.json.
Will also prevent writing to package-lock.json if set to false.
save-exact
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
Dependencies saved to package.json will be configured with an exact
version rather than using npm's default semver range operator.
global
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
Operates in "global" mode, so that packages are installed into the
prefix folder instead of the current working directory. See npm help
folders for more on the differences in behavior.
o packages are installed into the {prefix}/lib/node_modules folder,
instead of the current working directory.
o bin files are linked to {prefix}/bin
o man pages are linked to {prefix}/share/man
install-strategy
o Default: "hoisted"
o Type: "hoisted", "nested", "shallow", or "linked"
Sets the strategy for installing packages in node_modules. hoisted
(default): Install non-duplicated in top-level, and duplicated as
necessary within directory structure. nested: (formerly --legacy-
bundling) install in place, no hoisting. shallow (formerly --global-
style) only install direct deps at top-level. linked: (experimental)
install in node_modules/.store, link in place, unhoisted.
legacy-bundling
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
o DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of --install-
strategy=nested
Instead of hoisting package installs in node_modules, install packages
in the same manner that they are depended on. This may cause very deep
directory structures and duplicate package installs as there is no de-
duplicating. Sets --install-strategy=nested.
global-style
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
o DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of --install-
strategy=shallow
Only install direct dependencies in the top level node_modules, but
hoist on deeper dependencies. Sets --install-strategy=shallow.
strict-peer-deps
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
If set to true, and --legacy-peer-deps is not set, then any conflicting
peerDependencies will be treated as an install failure, even if npm
could reasonably guess the appropriate resolution based on non-peer
dependency relationships.
By default, conflicting peerDependencies deep in the dependency graph
will be resolved using the nearest non-peer dependency specification,
even if doing so will result in some packages receiving a peer
dependency outside the range set in their package's peerDependencies
object.
When such an override is performed, a warning is printed, explaining
the conflict and the packages involved. If --strict-peer-deps is set,
then this warning is treated as a failure.
package-lock
o Default: true
o Type: Boolean
If set to false, then ignore package-lock.json files when installing.
This will also prevent writing package-lock.json if save is true.
omit
o Default: 'dev' if the NODE_ENV environment variable is set to
'production'; otherwise, empty.
o Type: "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)
Dependency types to omit from the installation tree on disk.
Note that these dependencies are still resolved and added to the
package-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.json file. They are just not
physically installed on disk.
If a package type appears in both the --include and --omit lists, then
it will be included.
If the resulting omit list includes 'dev', then the NODE_ENV
environment variable will be set to 'production' for all lifecycle
scripts.
include
o Default:
o Type: "prod", "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple
times)
Option that allows for defining which types of dependencies to install.
This is the inverse of --omit=<type>.
Dependency types specified in --include will not be omitted, regardless
of the order in which omit/include are specified on the command-line.
ignore-scripts
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
If true, npm does not run scripts specified in package.json files.
Note that commands explicitly intended to run a particular script, such
as npm start, npm stop, npm restart, npm test, and npm run will still
run their intended script if ignore-scripts is set, but they will not
run any pre- or post-scripts.
allow-git
o Default: "all"
o Type: "all", "none", or "root"
Limits the ability for npm to fetch dependencies from git references.
That is, dependencies that point to a git repo instead of a version or
semver range. Please note that this could leave your tree incomplete
and some packages may not function as intended or designed.
all allows any git dependencies to be fetched and installed. none
prevents any git dependencies from being fetched and installed. root
only allows git dependencies defined in your project's package.json to
be fetched installed. Also allows git dependencies to be fetched for
other commands like npm view
audit
o Default: true
o Type: Boolean
When "true" submit audit reports alongside the current npm command to
the default registry and all registries configured for scopes. See the
documentation for npm help audit for details on what is submitted.
bin-links
o Default: true
o Type: Boolean
Tells npm to create symlinks (or .cmd shims on Windows) for package
executables.
Set to false to have it not do this. This can be used to work around
the fact that some file systems don't support symlinks, even on
ostensibly Unix systems.
fund
o Default: true
o Type: Boolean
When "true" displays the message at the end of each npm install
acknowledging the number of dependencies looking for funding. See npm
help fund for details.
dry-run
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
Indicates that you don't want npm to make any changes and that it
should only report what it would have done. This can be passed into any
of the commands that modify your local installation, eg, install,
update, dedupe, uninstall, as well as pack and publish.
Note: This is NOT honored by other network related commands, eg dist-
tags, owner, etc.
workspace
o Default:
o Type: String (can be set multiple times)
Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of
the current project while filtering by running only the workspaces
defined by this configuration option.
Valid values for the workspace config are either:
o Workspace names
o Path to a workspace directory
o Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all
workspaces within that folder)
When set for the npm init command, this may be set to the folder of a
workspace which does not yet exist, to create the folder and set it up
as a brand new workspace within the project.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
workspaces
o Default: null
o Type: null or Boolean
Set to true to run the command in the context of all configured
workspaces.
Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like install to
ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:
o Commands that operate on the node_modules tree (install, update,
etc.) will link workspaces into the node_modules folder. - Commands
that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on
the root project, unless one or more workspaces are specified in
the workspace config.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
include-workspace-root
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.
When false, specifying individual workspaces via the workspace config,
or all workspaces via the workspaces flag, will cause npm to operate
only on the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
install-links
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
When set file: protocol dependencies will be packed and installed as
regular dependencies instead of creating a symlink. This option has no
effect on workspaces.
See Also
o npm help "package spec"
o npm help developers
o package.json </configuring-npm/package-json>
o npm help install
o npm help folders
o npm help config
o npm help npmrc
NPM@11.9.0 February 2026 npm-link(1)
npm 11.9.0 - Generated Mon Feb 9 18:40:16 CST 2026