How to use private Github repo as npm dependency

Question

How do I list a private Github repo as a "dependency" in package.json? I tried npm's Github URLs syntaxes like ryanve/example, but doing npm install in the package folder gives "could not install" errors for the private dependencies. Is there a special syntax (or some other mechanism) for depending on private repos?

Answer 1

It can be done via https and oauth or ssh.

https and oauth: create an access token that has "repo" scope and then use this syntax:

"package-name": "git+https://<github_token>:x-oauth-basic@github.com/<user>/<repo>.git"

or

ssh: setup ssh and then use this syntax:

"package-name": "git+ssh://git@github.com:<user>/<repo>.git"

(note the use of colon instead of slash before user)

Answer 2

NPM without access token in repo

This method requires anyone who uses the package to authenticate with their own personal access token rather than a single group token, which allows the repo to be free of access tokens. You also don't need to create a new access token every time a user should no longer be granted access, instead, removing a user from the repo in GitHub will automatically remove their package access.

This is a condensed version of GitHub's NPM guide: https://docs.github.com/en/packages/working-with-a-github-packages-registry/working-with-the-npm-registry

---

Publish Your GitHub Repo as an NPM Package

1. Create a personal access token in developer settings: https://github.com/settings/tokens
2. Login to NPM

npm login --scope=@<USERNAME of repo owner in lowercase> --registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com

Username: <Your personal GitHub username>
Password: <Create a GitHub Access Token with your account and paste it here>
Email: <Email associated with the same account>

For example: where user @Bobby wants to publish github.com/Jessica/my-npm-package as an NPM package

npm login --scope=@jessica --registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com

Username: bobby
Password: yiueytiupoasdkjalgheoutpweoiru
Email: bobby@example.com

3. Update the package.json, following the format below.

  "name": "@jessica/my-npm-package",
  "repository": "git://github.com/jessica/my-npm-package.git",
  "publishConfig": {
    "registry":"https://npm.pkg.github.com"
  },

4. To publish the NPM package, run:

npm publish

---

Install a Private NPM Package in a Project

1. Login to NPM in the same exact way as step 2 above.
2. Install the package with npm install @jessica/my-npm-package

Done!

Keep reading if your project will have GitHub Actions scripts that need to install this private NPM package.

---

GitHub Actions: How to Install a Private NPM Package

In a CI environment, you'll also need npm login to similarly authenticate. Otherwise, npm install will fail, since it doesn't have access to the private NPM package. One way to pre-configure this is to use a .npmrc file; however, this commits auth credentials to the repo with that file. So, another way is to use the NPM tool npm-cli-login. There is a requirement that you either use your own personal access token (not optimal: you leave the repo, CI breaks), or set up a GitHub account specifically for CI and create an access token with that account.

1. Create an access token with a CI-only GitHub account or grab an access token from your own GitHub account.
2. Add that access token to your repo as a "secret", in the repo settings.
3. Update your GitHub Actions workflow script to run this step AFTER you install NPM and BEFORE you run npm install:

- name: Login to GitHub private NPM registry
  env:
    CI_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NAME_OF_YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET }}
  shell: bash
  run: |
    npm install -g npm-cli-login
    npm-cli-login -u "USERNAME" -p "${CI_ACCESS_TOKEN}" -e "EMAIL" -r "https://npm.pkg.github.com" -s "@SCOPE"
        

Replace NAME_OF_YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET, USERNAME, EMAIL and SCOPE.

For example

- name: Login to GitHub private NPM registry
  env:
    CI_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.MY_TOKEN }}
  shell: bash
  run: |
    npm install -g npm-cli-login
    npm-cli-login -u "ci-github-account" -p "${CI_ACCESS_TOKEN}" -e "ci-github-account@example.com" -r "https://npm.pkg.github.com" -s "@jessica"

Done!

Now when GitHub Actions later run npm install, the script will have access to the private NPM package.

FYI: If you're familiar with GitHub Actions, you may ask why can't we use secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN which GitHub automatically supplies? The reason is secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN only has access to the repo that is running the GitHub Actions, it does not have access to the repo of the private NPM package.

Answer 3

If someone is looking for another option for Git Lab and the options above do not work, then we have another option. For a local installation of Git Lab server, we have found that the approach, below, allows us to include the package dependency. We generated and use an access token to do so.

$ npm install --save-dev https://git.yourdomain.com/userOrGroup/gitLabProjectName/repository/archive.tar.gz?private_token=InsertYourAccessTokenHere

Of course, if one is using an access key this way, it should have a limited set of permissions.

Good luck!

Answer 4

With git there is a https format

https://github.com/equivalent/we_demand_serverless_ruby.git

This format accepts User + password

https://bot-user:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@github.com/equivalent/we_demand_serverless_ruby.git

So what you can do is create a new user that will be used just as a bot, add only enough permissions that he can just read the repository you want to load in NPM modules and just have that directly in your packages.json

 Github > Click on Profile > Settings > Developer settings > Personal access tokens > Generate new token

In Select Scopes part, check the on repo: Full control of private repositories

This is so that token can access private repos that user can see

Now create new group in your organization, add this user to the group and add only repositories that you expect to be pulled this way (READ ONLY permission !)

You need to be sure to push this config only to private repo

Then you can add this to your / packages.json (bot-user is name of user, xxxxxxxxx is the generated personal token)

// packages.json


{
  // ....
    "name_of_my_lib": "https://bot-user:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@github.com/ghuser/name_of_my_lib.git"
  // ...
}

https://blog.eq8.eu/til/pull-git-private-repo-from-github-from-npm-modules-or-bundler.html

Answer 5

I wasn't able to make the accepted answer work in a Docker container.

What worked for me was to set the Personal Access Token from GitHub in a file called .netrc

ARG GITHUB_READ_TOKEN
RUN echo -e "machine github.com\n  login $GITHUB_READ_TOKEN" > ~/.netrc 
RUN npm install --only=production --force \
  && npm cache clean --force
RUN rm ~/.netrc

in package.json

"my-lib": "github:username/repo",

Answer 6

Although this is an old question, adding an answer here which works across platforms.

The general npm v7 syntax to access private repositories in node_modules is -

git+https://<token_name>:<token>@<path_to_repository>.git#<commit>

You will have to create an access token with your git service provider with atleast read access.

Following are links for most popular platforms :

• github
• gitlab
• bitbucket

Do note github creates token linked to your username and there is no token name, thus, use your username instead of token_name for github.

Answer 7

As of April 2023, the only thing that worked for me using github repo was:

npm install https://oauth2:<your-fine-grained-token>@github.com/owner/repo.git

or if you want to specify the branch:

npm install https://oauth2:<your-fine-grained-token>@github.com/owner/repo.git#master

for example:

npm install https://oauth2:github_pat_51BR4Zf222bFXEXgW0dg3O_Kdfh5dghIFHJUPOTJYdB4ahsqe607ewCaynCLRu3aAINOKhrUk42HsUd@github.com/facebook#master

You can create your token here: https://github.com/settings/tokens?type=beta Read-only permissions are enough for installing and using the repo.

Answer 8

You would need to generate the personal access token and then use them as your password when you login npm.

npm login --scope=@dave --registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com
username: ${github_username}
password: ${personal_access_token}
Email: ${public_email}