# pacote [](https://npm.im/pacote) [](https://npm.im/pacote) [](https://travis-ci.org/npm/pacote) [](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/npm/pacote) [](https://coveralls.io/github/npm/pacote?branch=latest)
[`pacote`](https://github.com/npm/pacote) is a Node.js library for downloading
[npm](https://npmjs.org)-compatible packages. It supports all package specifier
syntax that `npm install` and its ilk support. It transparently caches anything
needed to reduce excess operations, using [`cacache`](https://npm.im/cacache).
## Install
`$ npm install --save pacote`
## Table of Contents
* [Example](#example)
* [Features](#features)
* [Contributing](#contributing)
* [API](#api)
* [`manifest`](#manifest)
* [`packument`](#packument)
* [`extract`](#extract)
* [`tarball`](#tarball)
* [`tarball.stream`](#tarball-stream)
* [`tarball.toFile`](#tarball-to-file)
* ~~[`prefetch`](#prefetch)~~ (deprecated)
* [`clearMemoized`](#clearMemoized)
* [`options`](#options)
### Example
```javascript
const pacote = require('pacote')
pacote.manifest('pacote@^1').then(pkg => {
console.log('package manifest for registry pkg:', pkg)
// { "name": "pacote", "version": "1.0.0", ... }
})
pacote.extract('http://hi.com/pkg.tgz', './here').then(() => {
console.log('remote tarball contents extracted to ./here')
})
```
### Features
* Handles all package types [npm](https://npm.im/npm) does
* [high-performance, reliable, verified local cache](https://npm.im/cacache)
* offline mode
* authentication support (private git, private npm registries, etc)
* github, gitlab, and bitbucket-aware
* semver range support for git dependencies
### Contributing
The pacote team enthusiastically welcomes contributions and project participation! There's a bunch of things you can do if you want to contribute! The [Contributor Guide](CONTRIBUTING.md) has all the information you need for everything from reporting bugs to contributing entire new features. Please don't hesitate to jump in if you'd like to, or even ask us questions if something isn't clear.
### API
#### <a name="manifest"></a> `> pacote.manifest(spec, [opts])`
Fetches the *manifest* for a package. Manifest objects are similar and based
on the `package.json` for that package, but with pre-processed and limited
fields. The object has the following shape:
```javascript
{
"name": PkgName,
"version": SemverString,
"dependencies": { PkgName: SemverString },
"optionalDependencies": { PkgName: SemverString },
"devDependencies": { PkgName: SemverString },
"peerDependencies": { PkgName: SemverString },
"bundleDependencies": false || [PkgName],
"bin": { BinName: Path },
"_resolved": TarballSource, // different for each package type
"_integrity": SubresourceIntegrityHash,
"_shrinkwrap": null || ShrinkwrapJsonObj
}
```
Note that depending on the spec type, some additional fields might be present.
For example, packages from `registry.npmjs.org` have additional metadata
appended by the registry.
##### Example
```javascript
pacote.manifest('pacote@1.0.0').then(pkgJson => {
// fetched `package.json` data from the registry
})
```
#### <a name="packument"></a> `> pacote.packument(spec, [opts])`
Fetches the *packument* for a package. Packument objects are general metadata
about a project corresponding to registry metadata, and include version and
`dist-tag` information about a package's available versions, rather than a
specific version. It may include additional metadata not usually available
through the individual package metadata objects.
It generally looks something like this:
```javascript
{
"name": PkgName,
"dist-tags": {
'latest': VersionString,
[TagName]: VersionString,
...
},
"versions": {
[VersionString]: Manifest,
...
}
}
```
Note that depending on the spec type, some additional fields might be present.
For example, packages from `registry.npmjs.org` have additional metadata
appended by the registry.
##### Example
```javascript
pacote.packument('pacote').then(pkgJson => {
// fetched package versions metadata from the registry
})
```
#### <a name="extract"></a> `> pacote.extract(spec, destination, [opts])`
Extracts package data identified by `<spec>` into a directory named
`<destination>`, which will be created if it does not already exist.
If `opts.digest` is provided and the data it identifies is present in the cache,
`extract` will bypass most of its operations and go straight to extracting the
tarball.
##### Example
```javascript
pacote.extract('pacote@1.0.0', './woot', {
digest: 'deadbeef'
}).then(() => {
// Succeeds as long as `pacote@1.0.0` still exists somewhere. Network and
// other operations are bypassed entirely if `digest` is present in the cache.
})
```
#### <a name="tarball"></a> `> pacote.tarball(spec, [opts])`
Fetches package data identified by `<spec>` and returns the data as a buffer.
This API has two variants:
* `pacote.tarball.stream(spec, [opts])` - Same as `pacote.tarball`, except it returns a stream instead of a Promise.
* `pacote.tarball.toFile(spec, dest, [opts])` - Instead of returning data directly, data will be written directly to `dest`, and create any required directories along the way.
##### Example
```javascript
pacote.tarball('pacote@1.0.0', { cache: './my-cache' }).then(data => {
// data is the tarball data for pacote@1.0.0
})
```
#### <a name="tarball-stream"></a> `> pacote.tarball.stream(spec, [opts])`
Same as `pacote.tarball`, except it returns a stream instead of a Promise.
##### Example
```javascript
pacote.tarball.stream('pacote@1.0.0')
.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('./pacote-1.0.0.tgz'))
```
#### <a name="tarball-to-file"></a> `> pacote.tarball.toFile(spec, dest, [opts])`
Like `pacote.tarball`, but instead of returning data directly, data will be
written directly to `dest`, and create any required directories along the way.
##### Example
```javascript
pacote.tarball.toFile('pacote@1.0.0', './pacote-1.0.0.tgz')
.then(() => /* pacote tarball written directly to ./pacote-1.0.0.tgz */)
```
#### <a name="prefetch"></a> `> pacote.prefetch(spec, [opts])`
##### THIS API IS DEPRECATED. USE `pacote.tarball()` INSTEAD
Fetches package data identified by `<spec>`, usually for the purpose of warming
up the local package cache (with `opts.cache`). It does not return anything.
##### Example
```javascript
pacote.prefetch('pacote@1.0.0', { cache: './my-cache' }).then(() => {
// ./my-cache now has both the manifest and tarball for `pacote@1.0.0`.
})
```
#### <a name="clearMemoized"></a> `> pacote.clearMemoized()`
This utility function can be used to force pacote to release its references
to any memoized data in its various internal caches. It might help free
some memory.
```javascript
pacote.manifest(...).then(() => pacote.clearMemoized)
```
#### <a name="options"></a> `> options`
`pacote` accepts [the options for
`npm-registry-fetch`](https://npm.im/npm-registry-fetch#fetch-options) as-is,
with a couple of additional `pacote-specific` ones:
##### <a name="dirPacker"></a> `opts.dirPacker`
* Type: Function
* Default: Uses [`npm-packlist`](https://npm.im/npm-packlist) and [`tar`](https://npm.im/tar) to make a tarball.
Expects a function that takes a single argument, `dir`, and returns a
`ReadableStream` that outputs packaged tarball data. Used when creating tarballs
for package specs that are not already packaged, such as git and directory
dependencies. The default `opts.dirPacker` does not execute `prepare` scripts,
even though npm itself does.
##### <a name="opts-enjoy-by"></a> `opts.enjoy-by`
* Alias: `opts.enjoyBy`, `opts.before`
* Type: Date-able
* Default: undefined
If passed in, will be used while resolving to filter the versions for **registry
dependencies** such that versions published **after** `opts.enjoy-by` are not
considered -- as if they'd never been published.
##### <a name="opts-include-deprecated"></a> `opts.include-deprecated`
* Alias: `opts.includeDeprecated`
* Type: Boolean
* Default: false
If false, deprecated versions will be skipped when selecting from registry range
specifiers. If true, deprecations do not affect version selection.
##### <a name="opts-full-metadata"></a> `opts.full-metadata`
* Type: Boolean
* Default: false
If `true`, the full packument will be fetched when doing metadata requests. By
defaul, `pacote` only fetches the summarized packuments, also called "corgis".
##### <a name="opts-tag"></a> `opts.tag`
* Alias: `opts.defaultTag`
* Type: String
* Default: `'latest'`
Package version resolution tag. When processing registry spec ranges, this
option is used to determine what dist-tag to treat as "latest". For more details
about how `pacote` selects versions and how `tag` is involved, see [the
documentation for `npm-pick-manifest`](https://npm.im/npm-pick-manifest).
##### <a name="opts-resolved"></a> `opts.resolved`
* Type: String
* Default: null
When fetching tarballs, this option can be passed in to skip registry metadata
lookups when downloading tarballs. If the string is a `file:` URL, pacote will
try to read the referenced local file before attempting to do any further
lookups. This option does not bypass integrity checks when `opts.integrity` is
passed in.
##### <a name="opts-where"></a> `opts.where`
* Type: String
* Default: null
Passed as an argument to [`npm-package-arg`](https://npm.im/npm-package-arg)
when resolving `spec` arguments. Used to determine what path to resolve local
path specs relatively from.
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