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Estus Flask
Estus Flask

Reputation: 222309

What is the 'npm create' command?

As the UmiJS documentation suggests, a project is created with the npm create command:

npm create umi

It seems to be working, but it's not documented.

Why did it appear and when? Is it a full synonym for npm init? Is there a reason why npm create should or should not be used?

Upvotes: 98

Views: 36236

Answers (3)

Aluan Haddad
Aluan Haddad

Reputation: 31803

To answer this question, I ran:

npm create --help

which printed:

npm init [--force|-f|--yes|-y|--scope]
npm init <@scope> (same as `npx <@scope>/create`)
npm init [<@scope>/]<name> (same as `npx [<@scope>/]create-<name>`)

aliases: create, innit

So yes, it is a synonym, or more specifically an alias, for npm init.

This was done using npm 6.10.1.

It doesn't matter which command one uses, but init is the canonical form while create is an alias. This is evidenced by the fact that npm create --help actually invokes npm init --help which is why we see create listed as an alias in this above output.

Upvotes: 110

Simon Sarris
Simon Sarris

Reputation: 63802

The actual command is npm init and npm create is an alias, though npm create seems to be more common in project documentation and in some sense more descriptive. You can read the documentation here on the npm github here.

npm create xyz (or npm init xyz) is a shorthand for running:

npx create-xyz

In other words, it prepends "create-" to the package name, temporarily installs that package, and then runs the script defined in the package.json. This is used by several projects. For the umi project, it implies there is a create-umi package as well, and as you can see there is:

create-umi

This is what the command is downloading and executing. Specifically it is executing the script defined in its package.json file:

  "bin": {
    "create-umi": "bin/create-umi.js"
  },

Many frameworks follow this pattern so you can use the command. Some others:

  • Svelte: npm create svelte@latest
  • Vue.js: npm create vue@latest
  • React: npm init react-app my-app

Upvotes: 51

Ammar Poursadegh
Ammar Poursadegh

Reputation: 73

npm create is a shorter way to use a tool that sets up a new project quickly. e.g: npm create umi creates a new project using the umi framework for building web applications. It saves time by generating a basic project structure and installing any necessary dependencies.

While npm init creates a new package.json file for a project, it does not generate a basic project structure. npm create is a user-friendly alternative that automates the process of setting up a new project. npm create is a useful shortcut for setting up a new project quickly, but it's important to note that not all Node.js packages support it. like : express

Upvotes: 1

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