NAME

npm-dist-tag

Synopsis

Description

Add, remove, and enumerate distribution tags on a package:

add: Tags the specified version of the package with the specified tag,
or the --tag config if not specified. If you have
two-factor authentication on auth-and-writes then you’ll need to include a
one-time password on the command line with
--otp <one-time password>, or at the OTP prompt.
rm: Clear a tag that is no longer in use from the package. If you have
two-factor authentication on auth-and-writes then you’ll need to include
a one-time password on the command line with --otp <one-time password>,
or at the OTP prompt.
ls: Show all of the dist-tags for a package, defaulting to the package in
the current prefix. This is the default action if none is specified.

A tag can be used when installing packages as a reference to a version instead
of using a specific version number:

npm install <name>@<tag>

When installing dependencies, a preferred tagged version may be specified:

npm install --tag <tag>

(This also applies to any other commands that resolve and install
dependencies, such as npm dedupe, npm update, and npm audit fix.)

Publishing a package sets the latest tag to the published version unless the
--tag option is used. For example, npm publish --tag=beta.

By default, npm install <pkg> (without any @<version> or @<tag>
specifier) installs the latest tag.

Purpose

Tags can be used to provide an alias instead of version numbers.

For example, a project might choose to have multiple streams of development
and use a different tag for each stream, e.g., stable, beta, dev,
canary.

By default, the latest tag is used by npm to identify the current version
of a package, and npm install <pkg> (without any @<version> or @<tag>
specifier) installs the latest tag. Typically, projects only use the
latest tag for stable release versions, and use other tags for unstable
versions such as prereleases.

The next tag is used by some projects to identify the upcoming version.

Other than latest, no tag has any special significance to npm itself.

Caveats

This command used to be known as npm tag, which only created new tags,
and so had a different syntax.

Tags must share a namespace with version numbers, because they are
specified in the same slot: npm install <pkg>@<version> vs
npm install <pkg>@<tag>.

Tags that can be interpreted as valid semver ranges will be rejected. For
example, v1.4 cannot be used as a tag, because it is interpreted by
semver as >=1.4.0 <1.5.0. See https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/6082

The simplest way to avoid semver problems with tags is to use tags that do
not begin with a number or the letter v.

Configuration