The .npmrc file

npm gets its config settings from the command line, environment variables, and npmrc files.

The npm config command can be used to update and edit the contents of the user and global npmrc files.

For a list of available configuration options, see npm-config(7).

Files

The four relevant files are:

  • per-project config file (/path/to/my/project/.npmrc)
  • per-user config file (~/.npmrc)
  • global config file ($PREFIX/etc/npmrc)
  • npm builtin config file (/path/to/npm/npmrc)

All npm config files are an ini-formatted list of key = value parameters. Environment variables can be replaced using ${VARIABLE_NAME}. For example:

prefix = ${HOME}/.npm-packages

Each of these files is loaded, and config options are resolved in priority order. For example, a setting in the userconfig file would override the setting in the globalconfig file.

Array values are specified by adding "[]" after the key name. For example:

key[] = "first value"
key[] = "second value"

NOTE: Because local (per-project or per-user) .npmrc files can contain sensitive credentials, they must be readable and writable only by your user account (i.e. must have a mode of 0600), otherwise they will be ignored by npm!

Per-project config file

When working locally in a project, a .npmrc file in the root of the project (ie, a sibling of node_modules and package.json) will set config values specific to this project.

Note that this only applies to the root of the project that you're running npm in. It has no effect when your module is published. For example, you can't publish a module that forces itself to install globally, or in a different location.

Additionally, this file is not read in global mode, such as when running npm install -g.

Per-user config file

$HOME/.npmrc (or the userconfig param, if set in the environment or on the command line)

Global config file

$PREFIX/etc/npmrc (or the globalconfig param, if set above): This file is an ini-file formatted list of key = value parameters. Environment variables can be replaced as above.

Built-in config file

path/to/npm/itself/npmrc

This is an unchangeable "builtin" configuration file that npm keeps consistent across updates. Set fields in here using the ./configure script that comes with npm. This is primarily for distribution maintainers to override default configs in a standard and consistent manner.