---
section: cli-commands 
title: npm-link
description: Symlink a package folder
---

# npm-link(1)

## Symlink a package folder

### Synopsis

```bash
npm link (in package dir)
npm link [<@scope>/]<pkg>[@<version>]

alias: npm ln
```

### Description

Package linking is a two-step process.

First, `npm link` in a package folder will create a symlink in the global folder
`{prefix}/lib/node_modules/<package>` that links to the package where the `npm
link` command was executed. It will also link any bins in the package to `{prefix}/bin/{name}`.
Note that `npm link` uses the global prefix (see `npm prefix -g` for its value).

Next, in some other location, `npm link package-name` will create a
symbolic link from globally-installed `package-name` to `node_modules/`
of the current folder.

Note that `package-name` is taken from `package.json`,
not from directory name.

The package name can be optionally prefixed with a scope. See [`scope`](/using-npm/npm-scope).
The scope must be preceded by an @-symbol and followed by a slash.

When creating tarballs for `npm publish`, the linked packages are
"snapshotted" to their current state by resolving the symbolic links.

This is handy for installing your own stuff, so that you can work on it and
test it iteratively without having to continually rebuild.

For example:

```bash
    cd ~/projects/node-redis    # go into the package directory
    npm link                    # creates global link
    cd ~/projects/node-bloggy   # go into some other package directory.
    npm link redis              # link-install the package
```

Now, any changes to ~/projects/node-redis will be reflected in
~/projects/node-bloggy/node_modules/node-redis/. Note that the link should
be to the package name, not the directory name for that package.

You may also shortcut the two steps in one.  For example, to do the
above use-case in a shorter way:

```bash
cd ~/projects/node-bloggy  # go into the dir of your main project
npm link ../node-redis     # link the dir of your dependency
```

The second line is the equivalent of doing:

```bash
(cd ../node-redis; npm link)
npm link redis
```

That is, it first creates a global link, and then links the global
installation target into your project's `node_modules` folder.

Note that in this case, you are referring to the directory name, `node-redis`,
rather than the package name `redis`.

If your linked package is scoped (see [`scope`](/using-npm/npm-scope)) your link command must include that scope, e.g.

```bash
npm link @myorg/privatepackage
```

### See Also

* [npm developers](/using-npm/developers)
* [package.json](/configuring-npm/package-json)
* [npm install](/cli-commands/npm-install)
* [npm folders](/configuring-npm/folders)
* [npm config](/cli-commands/npm-config)
* [npmrc](/configuring-npm/npmrc)