What is npmc?

npmc is a wrapper for the npm command that confirms with you if it detects you using another package manager.

When confirming, you can choose to do 3 things:

1. Run your command, adapted for the new package manager
2. Run your original command
3. Cancel the operation

Now, you can just copy and paste npm install commands from documentation without needing to manually edit the package manager!

When aliased to just npm, npmc serves as a quick way to run commands copied from external sources without needing to modify it at all, as opposed to ni, which reqires you to still swap out the npm install bit.

However, these tools can serve as compliments.

• If you are typing commands directly, you can still choose to use ni.
• You can use npmc in addition for copying and pasting or to catch occasional slipups.

Installation

npm install -g npm-confirm

This will give you access to the npmc command, which acts like the npm command, but confirms with you.

I strongly recommend aliasing npmc to just npm so you can use npm like normal.

To do this in zsh or bash add this to your .zshrc or .bashrc:

alias npm='npmc'

You may also want the pnpm, bun, and yarn commands to give confirmation when used with the wrong package manager.

By default, npmc acts as npm when no other package managers are detected. However, you can change that default by simply passing a --[NAME]-alias flag.

For example, if I run npmc --pnpm-alias, it will act as pnpm and confirm with you if you are using a non-pnpm package manager.

Again, I recommend aliasing these in .zshrc:

# npm
alias npm='npmc'

# pnpm
alias pnpm='npmc --pnpm-alias'

# bun
alias bun='npmc --bun-alias'

# yarn
alias yarn='npmc --yarn-alias'

Features

Automatic Command Adaptation

npmc will automatically adapt agent subcommands and flags from one package manager to the other.

For example, NPM's ci command will automagically be converted to bun install --no-save for Bun, and accordingly for other package managers.

Command Preview

npmc always shows you what command will be run, both when using the adapted package manager, or even the one you ran the command with.

This maximizes transparency, and ensures npmc never does something you didn't mean when adapting commands.

Have a problem with command adaptation? Submit an issue!

Smart Confirmations

npmc only confirms when you run certain commands, such as install, uninstall, run, upgrade, and their variants for the various package managers. This means that when you truly meant to use the other package manager, npmc will not stand in your way. Furthermore, all global installations are directly done directly with whatever you ran it with!