npmserve

A replacement for npm, which allows clients to execute npm install on a remote server. This allows slow clients to offload the work of building node_modules and perform significantly faster installs.

server

The client provided in this repository communicates with an npmserve-server.

disclaimer

npmserve and npmserve-server are experimental projects. These tools should not be used for deploying production dependencies. The client/server model does not yet have authentication or authorization in place. This project also does not guarantee the integrity or security of dependencies installed from npm or distributed to clients. Please consider your own requirements and constraints before incorporating npmserve into your workflow.

implementation

The client/server model works by uploading the module's package.json contents. The server creates a build hash from the package.json, which is used to store, delete, and retrieve builds.

limitations

Currently, the server must be run on a machine with the same architecture as the clients. If this is not the case, calls to /npm/install may return node_modules archives that contain extensions compiled for the wrong architecture.

installation

npm install -g npmserve

For convenience, you might want to configure the NPMSERVE_ORIGIN environment variable in your .profile or .bashrc:

export NPMSERVE_ORIGIN=<your_server_url>

This will allow you to execute the commands as shown below, without having to specify the NPMSERVE_ORIGIN on each command.

usage

The commands consist of a list of commands analogous to actions a user takes when running standard npm:

npm install is replaced by:

npmserve install

rm -rf node_modules/* is replaced by:

npmserve remove

npm cache clean is replaced by:

npmserve cache clean

We also provide a command to print out the build hash and other information. This is useful for looking up your build in the npmserve-server web interface.

npmserve info

environment

This project relies on the following environment variables: