Easily install local NPM packages by simply referring to their local path

The npm link way

To work with local NPM packages on can reside to using npm link. You make a package available locally with npm link and later on symlink it into your project using npm link package:

cd ~/projects/node-redis    # go into the package directory
npm link                    # creates global link

cd ~/projects/node-bloggy   # go into some project directory
npm link redis              # link-install the redis package (by its name)

This methods works fine and – above all – allows you to have a package.json that has no record of that link. That way you can check it into Git and push it, while still using the local version.

A downside however is that this way of working change is not explicit: by checking your package.json you can’t really tell whether you’re using a locally linked version or not.

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The relative path way

A more easy quick and dirty way of achieving this is to directly install a package by simply referring to its directory:

cd ~/projects/node-bloggy   # go into some project directory
npm install ../node-redis   # install the redis package by referring to its directory

Apart from symlinking the package into your project, your package.json will have been adjusted like this:

{
  …
  "dependencies": {
    "redis": "file:../node-redis"
  }
}

This change is explicit: a look at your package.json clearly tells you that you’re using a locally installed package.

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So which technique to use when? Personally I go for:

• npm link when adjusting an existing library (most likely a clone/fork to land a bugfix) while testing it in an existing project
• npm install ../path when splitting off a new library from an existing project

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