Difference between npx and npm

Question

I have just started learning React  and Facebook helps in simplifying the initial setup by providing the following ready-made project     If I have to install the skeleton project I have to type npx create-react-app my-app in command-line   I was wondering why does the Facebook in Github have npx create-react-app my-app rather than npm create-react-app my-app

User · Answer

Simple Definition   npm - Javascript package manager   npx - Execute npm package binaries

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npx is a npm package runner  x probably stands for eXecute   The typical use is to download and run a package temporarily or for trials   create-react-app is an npm package that is expected to be run only once in a project s lifecycle  Hence  it is preferred to use npx to install and run it in a single step   As mentioned in the man page https   www npmjs com package npx  npx can run commands in the PATH or from node modules  bin by default   Note  With some digging  we can find that create-react-app points to a Javascript file  possibly to  usr lib node modules create-react-app index js on Linux systems  that is executed within the node environment  This is simply a global tool that does some checks  The actual setup is done by react-scripts  whose latest version is installed in the project  Refer https   github com facebook create-react-app for more info

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NPX   From https   www futurehosting com blog npx-makes-life-easier-for-node-developers-plus-node-vulnerability-news       Web developers can have dozens of projects on their development   machines  and each project has its own particular set of npm-installed   dependencies  A few years back  the usual advice for dealing with CLI   applications like Grunt or Gulp was to install them locally in each   project and also globally so they could easily be run from the command   line       But installing globally caused as many problems as it solved  Projects   may depend on different versions of command line tools  and polluting   the operating system with lots of development-specific CLI tools isn   t   great either  Today  most developers prefer to install tools locally   and leave it at that       Local versions of tools allow developers to pull projects from GitHub   without worrying about incompatibilities with globally installed   versions of tools  NPM can just install local versions and you   re good   to go  But project specific installations aren   t without their   problems  how do you run the right version of the tool without   specifying its exact location in the project or playing around with   aliases       That   s the problem npx solves  A new tool included in NPM 5 2  npx is   a small utility that   s smart enough to run the right application when   it   s called from within a project       If you wanted to run the project-local version of mocha  for example    you can run npx mocha inside the project and it will do what you   expect       A useful side benefit of npx is that it will automatically install npm   packages that aren   t already installed  So  as the tool   s creator Kat   March  n points out  you can run npx benny-hill without having to deal   with Benny Hill polluting the global environment       If you want to take npx for a spin  update to the most recent version   of npm

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NPM is a package manager  you can install node js packages using NPM  NPX is a tool to execute node js packages    It doesn t matter whether you installed that package globally or locally  NPX will temporarily install it and run it  NPM also can run packages if you configure a package json file and include it in the script section       So remember this  if you want to check run a node package  quickly without installing locally or globally use NPX    npM -  Manager  npX -  Execute - easy to remember

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npx runs a command of a package without installing it explicitly  Use cases   You don t want to install packages neither globally nor locally  You don t have permission to install it globally  Just want to test some commands  Sometime  you want to have a script command  generate  convert something       in package json to execute something without installing these packages as project s dependencies   Syntax  npx  options   -p --package  lt package gt    lt command gt   command-arg      Package is optional  npx   -p uglify-js         uglifyjs --output app min js app js common js        ----------------     --------------------------------------------        package  optional    command  followed by arguments  For example  Start a HTTP Server        npx http-server Lint code                  npx eslint   src                            Run uglifyjs command in the package uglify-js Minify JS                  npx -p uglify-js uglifyjs -o app min js app js common js Minify CSS                 npx clean-css-cli -o style min css css bootstrap css style css Minify HTML                npx html-minifier index-2 html -o index html --remove-comments --collapse-whitespace Scan for open ports        npx evilscan 192 168 1 10 --port 10-9999 Cast video to Chromecast   npx castnow http   commondatastorage googleapis com gtv-videos-bucket sample ForBiggerFun mp4  More about command   https   docs npmjs com files package json bin https   github com mishoo UglifyJS2 blob master package json L17

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Here s an example of NPX in action  npx cowsay hello  If you type that into your bash terminal you ll see the result  The benefit of this is that npx has temporarily installed cowsay  There is no package pollution since cowsay is not permanently installed  This is great for one off packages where you want to avoid package pollution    As mentioned in other answers  npx is also very useful in cases where  with npm  the package needs to be installed then configured before running  E g  instead of using npm to install and then configure the json package file and then call the configured run command just use npx instead  A real example  npx create-react-app my-app

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Introducing npx  an npm package runner NPM - Manages packages but doesn t make life easy executing any NPX - A tool for executing Node packages   NPX comes bundled with NPM version 5 2    NPM by itself does not simply run any package  it doesn t run any package in a matter of fact  If you want to run a package using NPM  you must specify that package in your package json file  When executables are installed via NPM packages  NPM links to them   local installs have  quot links quot  created at   node modules  bin  directory  global installs have  quot links quot  created from the global bin  directory  e g   usr local bin  on Linux or at  AppData  npm on Windows   Documentation you should read  NPM  One might install a package locally on a certain project  npm install some-package  Now let s say you want NodeJS to execute that package from the command line    some-package  The above will fail  Only globally installed packages can be executed by typing their name only  To fix this  and have it run  you must type the local path      node modules  bin some-package  You can technically run a locally installed package by editing your packages json file and adding that package in the scripts section       quot name quot    quot whatever quot      quot version quot    quot 1 0 0 quot      quot scripts quot          quot some-package quot    quot some-package quot         Then run the script using npm run-script  or npm run   npm run some-package   NPX  npx will check whether  lt command gt  exists in  PATH  or in the local project binaries  and execute it  So  for the above example  if you wish to execute the locally-installed package some-package all you need to do is type  npx some-package  Another major advantage of npx is the ability to execute a package which wasn t previously installed    npx create-react-app my-app  The above example will generate a react app boilerplate within the path the command had run in  and ensures that you always use the latest version of a generator or build tool without having to upgrade each time you   re about to use it   Use-Case Example  npx command may be helpful in the script section of a package json file  when it is unwanted to define a dependency which might not be commonly used or any other reason   quot scripts quot          quot start quot    quot npx gulp 3 9 1 quot        quot serve quot    quot npx http-server quot     Call with  npm run serve  Related questions   How to use package installed locally in node modules  NPM  how to source   node modules  bin folder  How do you run a js file using npm scripts

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