NAME

       npm-registry - The JavaScript Package Registry

DESCRIPTION

       To  resolve  packages by name and version, npm talks to a registry website that implements
       the CommonJS Package Registry specification for reading package info.

       Additionally, npm's package registry implementation supports several write APIs  as  well,
       to allow for publishing packages and managing user account information.

       The  official  public  npm registry is at https://registry.npmjs.org/.  It is powered by a
       CouchDB database, of which there is a public mirror at  https://skimdb.npmjs.com/registry.
       The code for the couchapp is available at https://github.com/npm/npm-registry-couchapp.

       The  registry  URL  used  is  determined  by  the  scope  of  the  package (see npm help 7
       npm-scope). If no scope is specified, the default registry is used, which is  supplied  by
       the  registry config parameter.  See npm help npm-config, npm help 5 npmrc, and npm help 7
       npm-config for more on managing npm's configuration.

Does npm send any information about me back to the registry?

       Yes.

       When making requests of the registry npm adds two  headers  with  information  about  your
       environment:

       · Npm-Scope – If your project is scoped, this header will contain its scope. In the future
         npm hopes to build registry features that use this information to allow you to customize
         your experience for your organization.

       · Npm-In-CI  –  Set  to  "true"  if  npm  believes  this install is running in a continous
         integration environment,  "false"  otherwise.  This  is  detected  by  looking  for  the
         following environment variables: CI, TDDIUM, JENKINS_URL, bamboo.buildKey. If you'd like
         to      learn      more       you       may       find       the       original       PR
         https://github.com/npm/npm-registry-client/pull/129 interesting.  This is used to gather
         better metrics on how npm is used by humans, versus build farms.

       The npm registry does  not  to  correlate  the  information  in  these  headers  with  any
       authenticated accounts that may be used in the same requests.

Can I run my own private registry?

       Yes!

       The  easiest  way is to replicate the couch database, and use the same (or similar) design
       doc to implement the APIs.

       If you set up continuous replication from the official CouchDB, and then set your internal
       CouchDB  as  the  registry  config, then you'll be able to read any published packages, in
       addition to your private ones, and by default will only publish internally.

       If you then want to publish a package for the whole world to see, you can simply  override
       the --registry option for that publish command.

I don't want my package published in the official registry. It's private.

       Set  "private":  true  in  your package.json to prevent it from being published at all, or
       "publishConfig":{"registry":"http://my-internal-registry.local"}  to  force   it   to   be
       published only to your internal registry.

       See npm help 5 package.json for more info on what goes in the package.json file.

Will you replicate from my registry into the public one?

       No.   If  you  want  things to be public, then publish them into the public registry using
       npm.  What little security there is would be for nought otherwise.

Do I have to use couchdb to build a registry that npm can talk to?

       No, but it's way easier.  Basically, yes, you do, or you have to effectively implement the
       entire CouchDB API anyway.

Is there a website or something to see package docs and such?

       Yes, head over to https://npmjs.com/

SEE ALSO

       · npm help config

       · npm help 7 config

       · npm help 5 npmrc

       · npm help 7 developers

       · npm help 7 disputes

                                          February 2019                           NPM-REGISTRY(7)