Provided by: npm_8.5.1~ds-1_all 
NAME
npm-exec - Run a command from a local or remote npm package
Synopsis
npm exec -- <pkg>[@<version>] [args...]
npm exec --package=<pkg>[@<version>] -- <cmd> [args...]
npm exec -c '<cmd> [args...]'
npm exec --package=foo -c '<cmd> [args...]'
npm exec [--ws] [-w <workspace-name] [args...]
npx <pkg>[@<specifier>] [args...]
npx -p <pkg>[@<specifier>] <cmd> [args...]
npx -c '<cmd> [args...]'
npx -p <pkg>[@<specifier>] -c '<cmd> [args...]'
Run without --call or positional args to open interactive subshell
alias: npm x, npx
common options:
--package=<pkg> (may be specified multiple times)
-p is a shorthand for --package only when using npx executable
-c <cmd> --call=<cmd> (may not be mixed with positional arguments)
Description
This command allows you to run an arbitrary command from an npm package (either one installed locally, or
fetched remotely), in a similar context as running it via npm run.
Run without positional arguments or --call, this allows you to interactively run commands in the same
sort of shell environment that package.json scripts are run. Interactive mode is not supported in CI
environments when standard input is a TTY, to prevent hangs.
Whatever packages are specified by the --package option will be provided in the PATH of the executed
command, along with any locally installed package executables. The --package option may be specified
multiple times, to execute the supplied command in an environment where all specified packages are
available.
If any requested packages are not present in the local project dependencies, then they are installed to a
folder in the npm cache, which is added to the PATH environment variable in the executed process. A
prompt is printed (which can be suppressed by providing either --yes or --no).
Package names provided without a specifier will be matched with whatever version exists in the local
project. Package names with a specifier will only be considered a match if they have the exact same name
and version as the local dependency.
If no -c or --call option is provided, then the positional arguments are used to generate the command
string. If no --package options are provided, then npm will attempt to determine the executable name
from the package specifier provided as the first positional argument according to the following
heuristic:
• If the package has a single entry in its bin field in package.json, or if all entries are aliases of
the same command, then that command will be used.
• If the package has multiple bin entries, and one of them matches the unscoped portion of the name
field, then that command will be used.
• If this does not result in exactly one option (either because there are no bin entries, or none of them
match the name of the package), then npm exec exits with an error.
To run a binary other than the named binary, specify one or more --package options, which will prevent
npm from inferring the package from the first command argument.
npx vs npm exec
When run via the npx binary, all flags and options must be set prior to any positional arguments. When
run via npm exec, a double-hyphen -- flag can be used to suppress npm's parsing of switches and options
that should be sent to the executed command.
For example:
$ npx foo@latest bar --package=@npmcli/foo
In this case, npm will resolve the foo package name, and run the following command:
$ foo bar --package=@npmcli/foo
Since the --package option comes after the positional arguments, it is treated as an argument to the
executed command.
In contrast, due to npm's argument parsing logic, running this command is different:
$ npm exec foo@latest bar --package=@npmcli/foo
In this case, npm will parse the --package option first, resolving the @npmcli/foo package. Then, it
will execute the following command in that context:
$ foo@latest bar
The double-hyphen character is recommended to explicitly tell npm to stop parsing command line options
and switches. The following command would thus be equivalent to the npx command above:
$ npm exec -- foo@latest bar --package=@npmcli/foo
Configuration
<!-- AUTOGENERATED CONFIG DESCRIPTIONS START --> <!-- automatically generated, do not edit manually -->
<!-- see lib/utils/config/definitions.js -->
package
• Default:
• Type: String (can be set multiple times)
The package to install for npm help exec <!-- automatically generated, do not edit manually --> <!-- see
lib/utils/config/definitions.js -->
call
• Default: ""
• Type: String
Optional companion option for npm exec, npx that allows for specifying a custom command to be run along
with the installed packages.
npm exec --package yo --package generator-node --call "yo node"
<!-- automatically generated, do not edit manually --> <!-- see lib/utils/config/definitions.js -->
workspace
• Default:
• Type: String (can be set multiple times)
Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of the current project while
filtering by running only the workspaces defined by this configuration option.
Valid values for the workspace config are either:
• Workspace names
• Path to a workspace directory
• Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all workspaces within that folder)
When set for the npm init command, this may be set to the folder of a workspace which does not yet exist,
to create the folder and set it up as a brand new workspace within the project.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes. <!-- automatically generated, do not
edit manually --> <!-- see lib/utils/config/definitions.js -->
workspaces
• Default: null
• Type: null or Boolean
Set to true to run the command in the context of all configured workspaces.
Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like install to ignore workspaces altogether. When
not set explicitly:
• Commands that operate on the node_modules tree (install, update, etc.) will link workspaces into the
node_modules folder. - Commands that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the
root project, unless one or more workspaces are specified in the workspace config.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes. <!-- automatically generated, do not
edit manually --> <!-- see lib/utils/config/definitions.js -->
include-workspace-root
• Default: false
• Type: Boolean
Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.
When false, specifying individual workspaces via the workspace config, or all workspaces via the
workspaces flag, will cause npm to operate only on the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.
<!-- automatically generated, do not edit manually --> <!-- see lib/utils/config/definitions.js -->
<!-- AUTOGENERATED CONFIG DESCRIPTIONS END -->
Examples
Run the version of tap in the local dependencies, with the provided arguments:
$ npm exec -- tap --bail test/foo.js
$ npx tap --bail test/foo.js
Run a command other than the command whose name matches the package name by specifying a --package
option:
$ npm exec --package=foo -- bar --bar-argument
# ~ or ~
$ npx --package=foo bar --bar-argument
Run an arbitrary shell script, in the context of the current project:
$ npm x -c 'eslint && say "hooray, lint passed"'
$ npx -c 'eslint && say "hooray, lint passed"'
Workspaces support
You may use the workspace or workspaces configs in order to run an arbitrary command from an npm package
(either one installed locally, or fetched remotely) in the context of the specified workspaces. If no
positional argument or --call option is provided, it will open an interactive subshell in the context of
each of these configured workspaces one at a time.
Given a project with configured workspaces, e.g:
.
+-- package.json
`-- packages
+-- a
| `-- package.json
+-- b
| `-- package.json
`-- c
`-- package.json
Assuming the workspace configuration is properly set up at the root level package.json file. e.g:
{
"workspaces": [ "./packages/*" ]
}
You can execute an arbitrary command from a package in the context of each of the configured workspaces
when using the workspaces configuration options, in this example we're using eslint to lint any js file
found within each workspace folder:
npm exec --ws -- eslint ./*.js
Filtering workspaces
It's also possible to execute a command in a single workspace using the workspace config along with a
name or directory path:
npm exec --workspace=a -- eslint ./*.js
The workspace config can also be specified multiple times in order to run a specific script in the
context of multiple workspaces. When defining values for the workspace config in the command line, it
also possible to use -w as a shorthand, e.g:
npm exec -w a -w b -- eslint ./*.js
This last command will run the eslint command in both ./packages/a and ./packages/b folders.
Compatibility with Older npx Versions
The npx binary was rewritten in npm v7.0.0, and the standalone npx package deprecated at that time. npx
uses the npm exec command instead of a separate argument parser and install process, with some
affordances to maintain backwards compatibility with the arguments it accepted in previous versions.
This resulted in some shifts in its functionality:
• Any npm config value may be provided.
• To prevent security and user-experience problems from mistyping package names, npx prompts before
installing anything. Suppress this prompt with the -y or --yes option.
• The --no-install option is deprecated, and will be converted to --no.
• Shell fallback functionality is removed, as it is not advisable.
• The -p argument is a shorthand for --parseable in npm, but shorthand for --package in npx. This is
maintained, but only for the npx executable.
• The --ignore-existing option is removed. Locally installed bins are always present in the executed
process PATH.
• The --npm option is removed. npx will always use the npm it ships with.
• The --node-arg and -n options are removed.
• The --always-spawn option is redundant, and thus removed.
• The --shell option is replaced with --script-shell, but maintained in the npx executable for backwards
compatibility.
A note on caching
The npm cli utilizes its internal package cache when using the package name specified. You can use the
following to change how and when the cli uses this cache. See npm help cache for more on how the cache
works.
prefer-online
Forces staleness checks for packages, making the cli look for updates immediately even if the package is
already in the cache.
prefer-offline
Bypasses staleness checks for packages. Missing data will still be requested from the server. To force
full offline mode, use offline.
offline
Forces full offline mode. Any packages not locally cached will result in an error.
workspace
• Default:
• Type: String (can be set multiple times)
Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of the current project while
filtering by running only the workspaces defined by this configuration option.
Valid values for the workspace config are either:
• Workspace names
• Path to a workspace directory
• Path to a parent workspace directory (will result to selecting all of the nested workspaces)
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
workspaces
• Alias: --ws
• Type: Boolean
• Default: false
Run scripts in the context of all configured workspaces for the current project.
See Also
• npm help run-script
• npm help scripts
• npm help test
• npm help start
• npm help restart
• npm help stop
• npm help config
• npm help workspaces
• npm help npx
undefined NaN NPM-EXEC(1)