npm Publishing Best Practices

Quick Start

{
  "name": "lea-lang",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "main": "dist/index.js",
  "types": "dist/index.d.ts",
  "files": ["dist"],
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsc",
    "prepublishOnly": "npm run build && npm test"
  }
}

Package Configuration

Essential Fields

{
  "name": "lea-lang",
  "version": "1.1.3",
  "description": "Pipe-oriented functional programming language",
  "main": "dist/index.js",
  "types": "dist/index.d.ts",
  "bin": {
    "lea": "./dist/cli/index.js"
  },
  "files": [
    "dist",
    "README.md"
  ],
  "keywords": ["language", "interpreter", "functional", "pipes"],
  "author": "Your Name",
  "license": "MIT",
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "https://github.com/user/lea.git"
  },
  "engines": {
    "node": ">=18"
  }
}

Exports (Modern)

{
  "exports": {
    ".": {
      "types": "./dist/index.d.ts",
      "import": "./dist/index.mjs",
      "require": "./dist/index.js"
    },
    "./parser": {
      "types": "./dist/parser.d.ts",
      "import": "./dist/parser.mjs",
      "require": "./dist/parser.js"
    }
  }
}

Versioning

Semantic Versioning

MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH

1.0.0 → 1.0.1  # Patch: bug fixes
1.0.1 → 1.1.0  # Minor: new features (backwards compatible)
1.1.0 → 2.0.0  # Major: breaking changes

Version Commands

npm version patch  # 1.0.0 → 1.0.1
npm version minor  # 1.0.0 → 1.1.0
npm version major  # 1.0.0 → 2.0.0

Publishing

First-Time Setup

npm login
npm publish --access public  # For scoped packages

With Provenance (Recommended)

npm publish --provenance --access public

Dry Run

npm publish --dry-run
npm pack  # Creates tarball to inspect

Files to Include/Exclude

.npmignore

src/
__tests__/
tests/
*.test.ts
.github/
docs/

Or use package.json "files"

{
  "files": [
    "dist",
    "README.md",
    "LICENSE"
  ]
}

Pre-publish Checks

{
  "scripts": {
    "prepublishOnly": "npm run build && npm test && npm run lint"
  }
}

Reference Files

• references/scopes.md - Scoped packages
• references/tags.md - Dist tags (latest, beta, next)