Can my NPM CLI package be executed on CMD without installing globally?

Question

I have written an NPM package which has its own CLI commands.

Let's name that package as xyz and imagine it's now avaialable on npmjs.com

So, let's say a user installs this package in his project by running npm install xyz.

And now he wants to run a CLI command provided by xyz package on his terminal in his project.

xyz do_this

Can this be done without installing this package globally by user ? Or without any further configuration for the user ?

Here's some part of the package.json of the xyz package.

{
  "name": "xyz",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Description",
  "main": "index.js",
  "preferGlobal": true,
  "bin": "./index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "repository": {
........

Answer 1

Here's how npm works. When you install a package in the local directory, it installs the executable dependencies files inside node_modules inside the folder with package.json, but if you use --global, it places it globally where the user has set their path. For example, when I run npm install http-server, my executable ends up as ./node_modules/http-server/bin/http-server but when I install it globally, I have it as node_modules/http-server/bin

The work around for this is, if you want to just run the executable, just execute it inside like so ./node_modules/http-server/bin/http-server. If you want it as a command, you'll need to have the user add the directory to their Path so when the user enters the command, the computer looks for the command inside that folder. Here's a guide to adding PATH directories in Linux, you'll just add the directory /pathtofolder/node_modules/http-server/bin/ or whatever your folder is. https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-add-directory-to-path-in-linux/

For example, if I wanted to add http-server from my local folder to my path, I would run

export PATH="/pathtofolder/node_modules/http-server/bin/:$PATH"

Good luck! Let me know how I can help you!

Answer 2

The easiest way, as also given in the comment above, is to install the needed package locally like

$ node install [@<scope>/]<package>

and run the command later on with npx from same directory

$ npx <package/command>

We do this in our build systems to avoid global installs and their permission issues.