NPM-EXPLAIN(1)

NAME
npm-explain

Synopsis
<!-- AUTOGENERATED USAGE DESCRIPTIONS -->.SH Description

This command will print the chain of dependencies causing a given package to be installed in the current project.

If one or more package specs are provided, then only packages matching one of the specifiers will have their relationships explained.

The package spec can also refer to a folder within ./node_modules

For example, running npm explain glob within npm's source tree will show:
    glob@7.1.6
    node_modules/glob
      glob@"^7.1.4" from the root project

    glob@7.1.1 dev
    node_modules/tacks/node_modules/glob
      glob@"^7.0.5" from rimraf@2.6.2
      node_modules/tacks/node_modules/rimraf
        rimraf@"^2.6.2" from tacks@1.3.0
        node_modules/tacks
          dev tacks@"^1.3.0" from the root project

To explain just the package residing at a specific folder, pass that as the argument to the command.
This can be useful when trying to figure out exactly why a given dependency is being duplicated to satisfy conflicting version requirements within the project.
    $ npm explain node_modules/nyc/node_modules/find-up
    find-up@3.0.0 dev
    node_modules/nyc/node_modules/find-up
      find-up@"^3.0.0" from nyc@14.1.1
      node_modules/nyc
        nyc@"^14.1.1" from tap@14.10.8
        node_modules/tap
          dev tap@"^14.10.8" from the root project

Configuration
<!-- AUTOGENERATED CONFIG DESCRIPTIONS -->.SH See Also

    •   package spec

    •   npm config

    •   npmrc

    •   npm folders

    •   npm ls

    •   npm install

    •   npm link

    •   npm prune

    •   npm outdated

    •   npm update