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

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?

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

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&paste them. Have fun!

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>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": ">=4"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "test": "mocha"
  },
  "keywords": [
    "generate",
    "init",
    "npm",
    "package",
    "sasha",
    "vs"
  ]
}

4.2. npm init

D:\SashaDemoRepositories\sasha-npm-init-vs-generate-package>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 <pkg>` 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.

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

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.

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 <pkg> --save

or

npm install <pkg> --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.)

npm add <package-name>

The above command will add the package to the node modules and update the package.json file

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.

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 <pkg>@* --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 <pkg> --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 <pkg>@<version> --save

will automatically add specific version of package under dependencies into package.json file

EX:

npm install [email protected] --save

if you need specific range of version for a package use this Command line:

npm install <pkg>@<version range>

will automatically add the latest version for the package between range of version under dependencies into package.json file

EX:

npm install koa-views@">1.0.0 <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 <pkg> --save

will automatically remove package from dependencies into package.json file and remove package from node_module folder

Based on Pylinux's answer, below is a solution for Windows OS,

dir node_modules > abc.txt
FOR /F %k in (abc.txt) DO npm install --save

Hope it helps.