0000-npm-pkg.md

npm pkg

Summary

A new top-level command that manages any property in your package.json.

Motivation

Some users prefer managing their package.json using npm cli comands rather than manually editing a JSON file.

As of today, some of the npm cli commands already handle the automated management of the package.json file, such as npm install adding / updating dependency declarations, npm version bumping the version value, or in the case of npm set-script a top-level command that serves specifically the purpose of managing "scripts" data in the package.json file.

Detailed Explanation

• Add a npm pkg command that has the following subcommands:
  • npm pkg get <value>
  • npm pkg set <key>=<value>
  • npm pkg delete <key>

Rationale

Making manage your package.json file something less manually curated and more of an automated experience.

Implementation

• Add a new lib/pkg.js top-level command that will handle adding / removing / modifying properties in your package.json file.
• Reuses the same logic existing to query for object properties from lib/view.js
• Throws when trying to replace current literal values with object notations
• Type cast via json parse using the --json cli option

Example

$ npm pkg set scripts.lint=eslint
$ npm pkg get scripts
{
  "lint": "eslint"
}
$ npm pkg get scripts.lint
"eslint"
$ npm pkg set scripts.lint.eslint.foo=bar
error: "scripts.lint" exists and is not an object
$ npm pkg set scripts.lint.eslint.foo=bar --force
$ npm pkg delete scripts
$ npm pkg set scripts.lint.eslint.foo=bar
$ npm pkg get scripts
{
  "lint": {
    "eslint": {
      "foo": "bar"
    }
  }
}
$ npm pkg set tap.timeout=60 --pkg-type=number
$ npm pkg get tap
{
  "timeout": 60
}
$ npm pkg set contributors[0].name=Ruy contributors[0].email=foo@bar.ca
$ npm pkg set contributors[1].name=Gar contributors[1].email=foo@bar.ca
$ npm pkg get contributors.name
{
  "contributors[0].name": "Ruy",
  "contributors[1].name": "Gar"
}
$ npm pkg set foo.bar[0][0][0]baz.lorem[ipsum.dolor]sit=amet
$ npm pkg get foo
{
  bar: [
    [
      [
        {
          baz: {
            lorem: {
              "ispum.dolor": {
                sit: "amet"
              }
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    ]
  ]
}

Prior Art

Other npm cli top-level commands

• npm set-script top-level command that allow users to add new scripts to their package.json
• npm init -w <ws-path> init command will add the current path to "workspaces" property
• npm install|uninstall <pkg> will add/remove deps to "dependencies"

Userland alternatives

• https://www.npmjs.com/package/pkg-jq