Is there a way to automatically build the package json file for Node js projects

Question

Is package json supposed to be manually edited  Couldn t a program like npm just look through the files  see the  require  statements  and then use that to put the necessary entries in the package json file  Are there any programs like that

User · Answer

npm init  to create the package json file and then you use   ls node modules    xargs npm install --save   to fill in the modules you have in the node modules folder   Edit   paldepind pointed out that the second command is redundant because npm init now automatically adds what you have in your node modules  folder  I don t know if this has always been the case  but now at least  it works without the second command

User · Answer

Command line   npm init   will create package json file   To install   update and uninstall packages under dependencies into package json file    Command line    npm install  lt pkg gt    --save    will automatically add the latest version for the package under dependencies into           package json file    EX    npm install node-markdown   --save   Command line    npm install  lt pkg gt  --save   also will automatically add the latest version for the package under dependencies into package json file  if you need specific version for a package use this Command line   npm install  lt pkg gt   lt version gt  --save   will automatically add specific version of package under dependencies into package json file  EX   npm install koa-views 1 0 0 --save   if you need specific range of version for a package use this Command line   npm install  lt pkg gt   lt version range gt    will automatically add the latest version for the package between range of version under dependencies into package json file  EX   npm install koa-views   gt 1 0 0  lt 1 2 0  --save   For more details about how to write version for package npm Doc    Command line   npm update --save   will update packages  into package json file and will automatically add updated version for all packages under dependencies into package json file  Command line   npm uninstall  lt pkg gt  --save   will automatically remove package from dependencies into package json file and remove package from node module folder

User · Answer

1  Choice  If you git and GitHub user       generate-package more simply  than npm init   else  and or you don t like package json template  that generate-package or npm init generate       you can generate your own template via scaffolding apps as generate  sails or yeoman     2  Relevance  This answer is relevant for March 2018  In the future  the data from this answer may be obsolete   Author of this answer personally used generate-package at March 2018     3  Limitations  You need use git and GitHub for using generate-package     4  Demonstration  For example  I create blank folder sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package   4 1  generate-package  Command   D  SashaDemoRepositories sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package gt gen package  16 58 52  starting generate  16 59 01  v running tasks     package     16 59 04  starting package   Project description  generate-package demo   Author s name  Sasha Chernykh   Author s URL  https   vk com hair in the wind  17 00 19  finished package v 1m   package json        name    sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package      description    generate-package demo      version    0 1 0      homepage    https   github com Kristinita sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package      author    Sasha Chernykh  https   vk com hair in the wind       repository    Kristinita sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package      bugs          url    https   github com Kristinita sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package issues          license    MIT      engines          node     gt  4          scripts          test    mocha          keywords          generate        init        npm        package        sasha        vs          4 2  npm init  D  SashaDemoRepositories sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package gt npm init This utility will walk you through creating a package json file  It only covers the most common items  and tries to guess sensible defaults   See  npm help json  for definitive documentation on these fields and exactly what they do   Use  npm install  lt pkg gt   afterwards to install a package and save it as a dependency in the package json file   Press  C at any time to quit  package name   sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package  version   1 0 0  0 1 0 description  npm init demo entry point   index js  test command  mocha git repository  https   github com Kristinita sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package keywords  generate  package  npm  package  sasha  vs author  Sasha Chernykh license   ISC  MIT About to write to D  SashaDemoRepositories sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package package json        name    sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package      version    0 1 0      description    npm init demo      main    index js      scripts          test    mocha          repository          type    git        url    git https   github com Kristinita sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package git          keywords          generate        package        npm        package        sasha        vs          author    Sasha Chernykh      license    MIT      bugs          url    https   github com Kristinita sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package issues          homepage    https   github com Kristinita sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package readme      Is this ok   yes  y        name    sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package      version    0 1 0      description    npm init demo      main    index js      scripts          test    mocha          repository          type    git        url    git https   github com Kristinita sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package git          keywords          generate        package        npm        package        sasha        vs          author    Sasha Chernykh      license    MIT      bugs          url    https   github com Kristinita sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package issues          homepage    https   github com Kristinita sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package readme      I think  that generate-package more simply  that npm init     5  Customizing  That create your own package json template  see generate and yeoman examples

User · Answer

npm add  lt package-name gt   The above command will add the package to the node modules and update the package json file

User · Answer

You can now use Yeoman - Modern Web App Scaffolding Tool on node terminal using 3 easy steps   First  you ll need to install yo and other required tools     npm install -g yo bower grunt-cli gulp   To scaffold a web application  install the generator-webapp generator     npm install -g generator-webapp     create scaffolding    Run yo and    you are all done      yo webapp     create scaffolding    Yeoman can write boilerplate code for your entire web application or Controllers and Models  It can fire up a live-preview web server for edits and compile  not just that you can also run your unit tests  minimize and concatenate your code  optimize images  and more     Yeoman  yo  - scaffolding tool that offers an ecosystem of framework-specific scaffolds  called generators  that can be used to perform some of the tedious tasks mentioned earlier   Grunt   gulp - used to build  preview  and test your project   Bower - is used for dependency management  so that you no longer have to manually download your front-end libraries

User · Answer

use command npm init -f to generate package json file and after that use --save after each command so that each module will automatically get updated inside your package json for ex  npm install express --save

User · Answer

Based on Pylinux s answer  below is a solution for Windows OS   dir node modules  gt  abc txt FOR  F  k in  abc txt  DO npm install --save   Hope it helps

User · Answer

The package json file is used by npm to learn about your node js project   Use npm init to generate package json files for you   It comes bundled with npm  Read its documentation here  https   docs npmjs com cli init  Also  there s an official tool you can use to generate this file programmatically  https   github com npm init-package-json

User · Answer

Running npm init -y makes your package json with all the defaults   You can then change package json accordingly  This saves time many a times by preventing pressing enter on every command in npm init

User · Answer

First off  run  npm init      will ask you a few questions  read this first  about your project package and then generate a package json file for you   Then  once you have a package json file  use  npm install  lt pkg gt  --save   or  npm install  lt pkg gt  --save-dev      to install a dependency and automatically append it to your package json s dependencies list    Note  You may need to manually tweak the version ranges for your dependencies

User · Answer

I just wrote a simple script to collect the dependencies in   node modules  It fulfills my requirement at the moment  This may help some others  I post it here   var fs   require  fs     function main       fs readdir    node modules   function  err  dirs        if  err          console log err         return            dirs forEach function dir         if  dir indexOf          0            var packageJsonFile      node modules     dir     package json           if  fs existsSync packageJsonFile               fs readFile packageJsonFile  function  err  data                if  err                  console log err                             else                 var json   JSON parse data                 console log     json name          json version                                                                          main      In my case  the above script outputs    colors    0 6 0-1    commander    1 0 5    htmlparser    1 7 6    optimist    0 3 5    progress    0 1 0    request    2 11 4    soupselect    0 2 0        Remember  remove the comma character in the last line    Now  you can copy amp paste them  Have fun

[json] Is there a way to automatically build the package.json file for Node.js projects

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