npm command-line interface

# npm-dist-tag

Modify package distribution tags

## Table of contents

- Synopsis
- Description
- Purpose
- Caveats
- Configuration

- `workspace`
- `workspaces`
- `include-workspace-root`

- See Also

### Synopsis

    npm dist-tag add <package-spec (with version)> [<tag>]
    npm dist-tag rm <package-spec> <tag>
    npm dist-tag ls [<package-spec>]

    alias: dist-tags

### Description

Add, remove, and enumerate distribution tags on a package:

- add: Tags the specified version of the package with the specified tag, or the `--tag` config if not specified. If you have two-factor authentication on auth-and-writes then you’ll need to include a one-time password on the command line with `--otp <one-time password>`, or go through a second factor flow based on your `authtype`.

- rm: Clear a tag that is no longer in use from the package. If you have two-factor authentication on auth-and-writes then you’ll need to include a one-time password on the command line with `--otp <one-time password>`, or go through a second factor flow based on your `authtype`

- ls: Show all of the dist-tags for a package, defaulting to the package in the current prefix. This is the default action if none is specified.

A tag can be used when installing packages as a reference to a version instead of using a specific version number:

    npm install <name>@<tag>

When installing dependencies, a preferred tagged version may be specified:

    npm install --tag <tag>

(This also applies to any other commands that resolve and install dependencies, such as `npm dedupe`, `npm update`, and `npm audit fix`.)

Publishing a package sets the `latest` tag to the published version unless the `--tag` option is used. For example, `npm publish --tag=beta`.

By default, `npm install <pkg>` (without any `@<version>` or `@<tag>` specifier) installs the `latest` tag.

### Purpose

Tags can be used to provide an alias instead of version numbers.

For example, a project might choose to have multiple streams of development and use a different tag for each stream, e.g., `stable`, `beta`, `dev`, `canary`.

By default, the `latest` tag is used by npm to identify the current version of a package, and `npm install <pkg>` (without any `@<version>` or `@<tag>` specifier) installs the `latest` tag. Typically, projects only use the `latest` tag for stable release versions, and use other tags for unstable versions such as prereleases.

The `next` tag is used by some projects to identify the upcoming version.

Other than `latest`, no tag has any special significance to npm itself.

### Caveats

This command used to be known as `npm tag`, which only created new tags, and so had a different syntax.

Tags must share a namespace with version numbers, because they are specified in the same slot: `npm install <pkg>@<version>` vs `npm install <pkg>@<tag>`.

Tags that can be interpreted as valid semver ranges will be rejected. For example, `v1.4` cannot be used as a tag, because it is interpreted by semver as `>=1.4.0 <1.5.0`. See https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/6082.

The simplest way to avoid semver problems with tags is to use tags that do not begin with a number or the letter `v`.

### Configuration

#### `workspace`

- Default:
- Type: String (can be set multiple times)

Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of the current project while filtering by running only the workspaces defined by this configuration option.

Valid values for the `workspace` config are either:

- Workspace names
- Path to a workspace directory
- Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all workspaces within that folder)

When set for the `npm init` command, this may be set to the folder of a workspace which does not yet exist, to create the folder and set it up as a brand new workspace within the project.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

#### `workspaces`

- Default: null
- Type: null or Boolean

Set to true to run the command in the context of all configured workspaces.

Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like `install` to ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:

- Commands that operate on the `node_modules` tree (install, update, etc.) will link workspaces into the `node_modules` folder. - Commands that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the root project, unless one or more workspaces are specified in the `workspace` config.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

#### `include-workspace-root`

- Default: false
- Type: Boolean

Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.

When false, specifying individual workspaces via the `workspace` config, or all workspaces via the `workspaces` flag, will cause npm to operate only on the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

### See Also

- package spec
- npm publish
- npm install
- npm dedupe
- npm registry
- npm config
- npmrc