[node.js] How to install a private NPM module without my own registry?

I've taken some shared code and put it in an NPM module, one I don't want to upload to the central registry. The question is, how do I install it from other projects?

The obvious way is probably to set up my own NPM registry, but according to the documentation, that involves a lot of hassle.

Can I just install an NPM module that sits on the local filesystem, or perhaps even from git?

npm install --from-git git@server:project

Very simple -

npm config set registry https://path-to-your-registry/

It actually sets registry = "https://path-to-your-registry" this line to /Users/<ur-machine-user-name>/.npmrc

All the value you have set explicitly or have been set by default can be seen by - npm config list

Structure your code in an accessible fashion like below. If this is possible for you.

• NodeProjs\Apps\MainApp\package.json

• NodeProjs\Modules\DataModule\package.json

Within MainApp @ NodProjs\Apps\MainApp\

npm install --S ../../Modules/DataModule

You may need to update package.json as:

 "dependencies": {
       "datamodule": "../../Modules/DataModule"
}

This worked for my situation.

I had this same problem, and after some searching around, I found Reggie (https://github.com/mbrevoort/node-reggie). It looks pretty solid. It allows for lightweight publishing of NPM modules to private servers. Not perfect (no authentication upon installation), and it's still really young, but I tested it locally, and it seems to do what it says it should do.

That is... (and this just from their docs)

npm install -g reggie
reggie-server -d ~/.reggie

then cd into your module directory and...

reggie -u http://<host:port> publish 
reggie -u http://127.0.0.1:8080 publish 

finally, you can install packages from reggie just by using that url either in a direct npm install command, or from within a package.json... like so

npm install http://<host:port>/package/<name>/<version>
npm install http://<host:port>/package/foo/1.0.0

or..

dependencies: {
    "foo": "http://<host:port>/package/foo/1.0.0"
}

FWIW: I had problems with all of these answers when dealing with a private organization repository.

The following worked for me:

npm install -S "git+https://[email protected]/orgname/repositoryname.git"

For example:

npm install -S "git+https://[email protected]/netflix/private-repository.git"

I'm not entirely sure why the other answers didn't work for me in this one case, because they're what I tried first before I hit Google and found this answer. And the other answers are what I've done in the past.

Hopefully this helps someone else.

Starting with arcseldon's answer, I found that the team name was needed in the URL like so:

npm install --save "git+https://myteamname@[email protected]/myteamname/myprivate.git"

And note that the API key is only available for the team, not individual users.

This was what I was looking for:

# Get the latest from GitHub, public repo:
$ npm install username/my-new-project --save-dev
# Bitbucket, private repo:
$ npm install git+https://token:[email protected]/username/my-new-project.git#master
$ npm install git+ssh://[email protected]/username/my-new-project.git#master

# … or from Bitbucket, public repo:
$ npm install git+ssh://[email protected]/username/my-new-project.git#master --save-dev
# Bitbucket, private repo:
$ npm install git+https://username:[email protected]/username/my-new-project.git#master
$ npm install git+ssh://[email protected]/username/my-new-project.git#master
# Or, if you published as npm package:
$ npm install my-new-project --save-dev

You can use Verdaccio for this purpose which is a lightweight private npm proxy registry built in Node.js. Also it is free and open-source. By using Verdaccio it does not involve that much hassle as a plain private npm registry would.

You can find detailed information about how to install and run it on their website but here are the steps:

It requires node >=8.x.

    // Install it from npm globally
    npm install -g verdaccio

    // Simply run with the default configuration that will host the registry which you can reach at http://localhost:4873/
    verdaccio

    // Set the registry for your project and every package will be downloaded from your private registry
    npm set registry http://localhost:4873/

    // OR use the registry upon individual package install
    npm install --registry http://localhost:4873

It also has a docker so you can easily publish it to your publicly available docker and voila you have a private npm repository that can be distributed to others in a way as you configure it!

Npm now provides unlimited private hosted modules for $7/user/month used like so

cd private-project
npm login

in your package json set "name": " @username/private-project"

npm publish

then to require your project:

cd ../new-project
npm install --save @username/private-project

I use the following with a private github repository:

npm install github:mygithubuser/myproject

Config to install from public Github repository, even if machine is under firewall:

dependencies: {
   "foo": "https://github.com/package/foo/tarball/master"
}

Update January 2016

In addition to other answers, there is sometimes the scenario where you wish to have private modules available in a team context.

Both Github and Bitbucket support the concept of generating a team API Key. This API key can be used as the password to perform API requests as this team.

In your private npm modules add

"private": true 

to your package.json

Then to reference the private module in another module, use this in your package.json

    {
        "name": "myapp",
        "dependencies": {
            "private-repo":
"git+https://myteamname:[email protected]/myprivate.git",
        }
    }

where team name = myteamname, and API Key = aQqtcplwFzlumj0mIDdRGCbsAq5d6Xg4

Here I reference a bitbucket repo, but it is almost identical using github too.

Finally, as an alternative, if you really don't mind paying $7 per month (as of writing) then you can now have private NPM modules out of the box.

Can I just install an NPM package that sits on the local filesystem, or perhaps even from git?

Yes you can! From the docs https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/install

A package is:

• a) a folder containing a program described by a package.json file
• b) a gzipped tarball containing (a)
• c) a url that resolves to (b)
• d) a <name>@<version> that is published on the registry with (c)
• e) a <name>@<tag> that points to (d)
• f) a <name> that has a "latest" tag satisfying (e)
• g) a <git remote url> that resolves to (b)

Isn't npm brilliant?

In your private npm modules add

"private": true 

to your package.json

Then to reference the private module in another module, use this in your package.json

{
    "name": "myapp",
    "dependencies": {
        "private-repo": "git+ssh://[email protected]:myaccount/myprivate.git#v1.0.0",
    }
}