npm / libnpmsearch

programmatic API for the shiny new npm search endpoint

We've Moved! 🚚

The code for this repo is now a workspace in the npm CLI repo.

github.com/npm/cli

You can find the workspace in /workspaces/libnpmsearch

Please file bugs and feature requests as issues on the CLI and tag the issue with "ws:libnpmsearch".

github.com/npm/cli/issues

libnpmsearch

libnpmsearch is a Node.js library for programmatically accessing the npm search endpoint. It does not support legacy search through /-/all.

Table of Contents

• Example
• Install
• Contributing
• API
  • search opts
  • search()
  • search.stream()

Example

const search = require('libnpmsearch')

console.log(await search('libnpm'))
=>
[
  {
    name: 'libnpm',
    description: 'programmatic npm API',
    ...etc
  },
  {
    name: 'libnpmsearch',
    description: 'Programmatic API for searching in npm and compatible registries',
    ...etc
  },
  ...more
]

Install

$ npm install libnpmsearch

API

opts for libnpmsearch commands

The following opts are used directly by libnpmsearch itself:

• opts.limit - Number of results to limit the query to. Default: 20
• opts.from - Offset number for results. Used with opts.limit for pagination. Default: 0
• opts.detailed - If true, returns an object with package, score, and searchScore fields, with package being what would usually be returned, and the other two containing details about how that package scored. Useful for UIs. Default: false
• opts.sortBy - Used as a shorthand to set opts.quality, opts.maintenance, and opts.popularity with values that prioritize each one. Should be one of 'optimal', 'quality', 'maintenance', or 'popularity'. Default: 'optimal'
• opts.maintenance - Decimal number between 0 and 1 that defines the weight of maintenance metrics when scoring and sorting packages. Default: 0.65 (same as opts.sortBy: 'optimal')
• opts.popularity - Decimal number between 0 and 1 that defines the weight of popularity metrics when scoring and sorting packages. Default: 0.98 (same as opts.sortBy: 'optimal')
• opts.quality - Decimal number between 0 and 1 that defines the weight of quality metrics when scoring and sorting packages. Default: 0.5 (same as opts.sortBy: 'optimal')

libnpmsearch uses npm-registry-fetch. Most options are passed through directly to that library, so please refer to its own opts documentation for options that can be passed in.

A couple of options of note for those in a hurry:

• opts.token - can be passed in and will be used as the authentication token for the registry. For other ways to pass in auth details, see the n-r-f docs.

> search(query, [opts]) -> Promise

query must be either a String or an Array of search terms.

If opts.limit is provided, it will be sent to the API to constrain the number of returned results. You may receive more, or fewer results, at the endpoint's discretion.

The returned Promise resolved to an Array of search results with the following format:

{
  name: String,
  version: SemverString,
  description: String || null,
  maintainers: [
    {
      username: String,
      email: String
    },
    ...etc
  ] || null,
  keywords: [String] || null,
  date: Date || null
}

If opts.limit is provided, it will be sent to the API to constrain the number of returned results. You may receive more, or fewer results, at the endpoint's discretion.

For streamed results, see search.stream.

Example

await search('libnpm')
=>
[
  {
    name: 'libnpm',
    description: 'programmatic npm API',
    ...etc
  },
  {
    name: 'libnpmsearch',
    description: 'Programmatic API for searching in npm and compatible registries',
    ...etc
  },
  ...more
]

> search.stream(query, [opts]) -> Stream

query must be either a String or an Array of search terms.

If opts.limit is provided, it will be sent to the API to constrain the number of returned results. You may receive more, or fewer results, at the endpoint's discretion.

The returned Stream emits one entry per search result, with each entry having the following format:

{
  name: String,
  version: SemverString,
  description: String || null,
  maintainers: [
    {
      username: String,
      email: String
    },
    ...etc
  ] || null,
  keywords: [String] || null,
  date: Date || null
}

For getting results in one chunk, see search.

Example

search.stream('libnpm').on('data', console.log)
=>
// entry 1
{
  name: 'libnpm',
  description: 'programmatic npm API',
  ...etc
}
// entry 2
{
  name: 'libnpmsearch',
  description: 'Programmatic API for searching in npm and compatible registries',
  ...etc
}
// etc