When working with libraries, we aim to share our code with teammates, not just keep it on our own computers. The easiest way to share and test our code is by using npm pack to create a zip version.
Another option is to publish our package is with azure artifacts, npm with free version public. But if we want to make it private, we need to pay or set up our own private npm repository. in this moment is where Verdaccio comes in to help us.
What is Verdaccio
Verdaccio allow us register our libraries in local easy, with a nice web interface with support for NPM, YARN and PNPM. It's also works as proxy for NPM, so when we request some library its can find first in verdaccio (with a small config) before to find to npm, working as local cache for our libraries.
How its works ?
Verdaccio is a npm package but also with a docker image, in my case I run the npm version to make easy the example.
First install the verdaccio package:
npm i verdaccio
After install, we can run the command verdaccio it start the local repository server.
Go to the url, it provide the next step to finalize the configuration.
In another terminal, create the user by running the command
npm adduser --registry http://localhost:4873/
We have ready our verdaccio, the final step is publish our first library.
Create and Publish
Before to use Verdaccio create a example library like donweb-ui, create the workspace, generate and build the library.
Create the workspace example:
ng new my-company --create-application=false
Generate and build the library to generate from the terminal:
ng g library donweb-ui
ng build donweb-ui
After create your library and build it, for example my library, navigate to the dist directory and execute the command $ npm publish --registry http://localhost:4873/ to publish your library to Verdaccio.
After finishing, we can visit the Verdaccio web interface to see our package, complete with all its details and the version available for installation.
Getting Package For Verdaccio
If we try to install the version of our library, for example, npm install donweb-ui@0.0.14, we get an error. But why?
By default, npm looks for packages in the npm repository. To direct npm to use the Verdaccio npm proxy, add a .npmrc file with the Verdaccio URL. Place this file at the same level as the package.json and try installing the library again.
It works! We installed our library from Verdaccio! 🥳
Recap
Today, we learned that Verdaccio allows us to create our own npm registry simply, avoiding the complexity and costs associated with options like Azure Artifacts or npm's private version. Although Azure Artifacts has many features, Verdaccio is perfect for simple and direct scenarios.
Have nice publishing!!
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