How to update npm package from a local folder

Question

I cloned some npm package from github and put the package in a local folder, e.g.

c:\git\package

I used "npm install -g" to install the package, which works really well.

npm install -g c:\git\package

However, when I did some change in the code of the package, e.g. checked out some branch. I couldn't use "npm update" to update the installed package. I have tried:

npm update -g

and

npm update -g packagename

or

npm update -g folderpath

Neither worked. I have to use "npm install" to reinstall it again for updating, which is wasting time to reinstall all dependencies.

Why does npm only support install from folder but not update from folder? If it does support, what shall I do? Thanks.

Answer 1

Instead of npm install from a local directory, try npm link, which creates a globally-installed symlink to the directory.

As stated in the docs, this is a two-step process:

1. In package directory:

   $ npm link
   

   This creates a symlink to the current folder in npm's global installation directory.

2. Somewhere else, where you want to use the module:

   $ npm link <pkgname>
   

   This will create a symlink in your project's node_modules/ folder to the global installation.