What Are Packages?

Packages in Node.js

Node.js packages allow us to reuse code that has already been written by other people. This concept is not something that is unique to Node.js; Python and its package installer, pip, accomplish what Node.js does with npm. So what exactly is a package?

Here are some famous packages:

• React is a JavaScript library that allows us to create interactive user interfaces.
• Express is a minimal Node.js web application framework that provides a robust set of features for web and mobile applications.
• Axios is a promise-based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js.

A package must contain a package.json file in order to be published to the npm registry. Since modules are not required to have a package.json file, not all modules are packages. Only modules that have a package.json file are packages.

npm

npm is the package manager for Node.js; it is a software registry that makes sharing and accessing packages easy. npm is installed when Node.js is installed. Each project has dependencies that are listed in its package.json. The dependencies can be installed using a single line. The website makes searching for packages very easy. Packages can then be installed from the npm CLICommand Line Interface. Try installing React in the terminal below. Use the command npm install react.