3

Per this answer, when you reference a local dependency in package.json the local package will be copied to node_modules. This is not ideal when I'm developing a package and just referencing it from another project as I want to verify the library works correctly within another project. It seems every time I make a change to the library, I have to go back to my consuming project, delete the node_modules/my-library folder and rerun npm install each time for it to copy the library back. If I don't delete the folder first it doesn't seem to copy the latest version over.

If I develop directly inside node_modules/my-library it's not ideal because that folder isn't version controller, unlike the local folder referenced in package.json.

Another option would be to create an example project within the my-library repo, but I'd prefer to go that route as a last resort.

Liron Yahdav
  • 10,152
  • 8
  • 68
  • 104

1 Answers1

2

You can use npm link to develop your library and have another project use the local version like so.

For example;

In the my-library directory run npm link.

Then in the project you want to use my-libray run npm link my-library.

This will also work with yarn link.

Bulkan
  • 2,555
  • 1
  • 20
  • 31