NAME

       npm-explain - Explain installed packages

   Synopsis
         npm explain <package-spec>

         alias: why

   Description
       This  command will print the chain of dependencies causing a given package to be installed
       in the current project.

       If one or more package specs  are  provided,  then  only  packages  matching  one  of  the
       specifiers will have their relationships explained.

       The package spec can also refer to a folder within ./node_modules

       For example, running npm explain glob within npm's source tree will show:

         glob@7.1.6
         node_modules/glob
           glob@"^7.1.4" from the root project

         glob@7.1.1 dev
         node_modules/tacks/node_modules/glob
           glob@"^7.0.5" from rimraf@2.6.2
           node_modules/tacks/node_modules/rimraf
             rimraf@"^2.6.2" from tacks@1.3.0
             node_modules/tacks
               dev tacks@"^1.3.0" from the root project

       To  explain  just  the package residing at a specific folder, pass that as the argument to
       the command.  This can be useful when trying to figure out exactly why a given  dependency
       is being duplicated to satisfy conflicting version requirements within the project.

         $ npm explain node_modules/nyc/node_modules/find-up
         find-up@3.0.0 dev
         node_modules/nyc/node_modules/find-up
           find-up@"^3.0.0" from nyc@14.1.1
           node_modules/nyc
             nyc@"^14.1.1" from tap@14.10.8
             node_modules/tap
               dev tap@"^14.10.8" from the root project

   Configuration
   json
       • Default: false

       • Type: Boolean

       Whether or not to output JSON data, rather than the normal output.

       • In  npm  pkg  set  it enables parsing set values with JSON.parse() before saving them to
         your package.json.

       Not supported by all npm commands.

   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.

   See Also
       • npm help package spec

       • npm help config

       • npm help npmrc

       • npm help folders

       • npm help ls

       • npm help install

       • npm help link

       • npm help prune

       • npm help outdated

       • npm help update

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