yarn init
Interactively creates or updates a package.json file.
yarn init
This command walks you through an interactive session to create a package.json
file. Some defaults such as the license and initial version are found in yarn’s init-*
config settings.
Here’s an example of running the command inside of a directory named testdir
:
$ yarn init
question name (testdir): my-awesome-package question version (1.0.0): question description: The best package you will ever find. question entry point (index.js): question git repository: https://github.com/yarnpkg/example-yarn-package question author: Yarn Contributor question license (MIT): question private: success Saved package.json ✨ Done in 87.70s.
This results in the following package.json
:
{"name":"my-awesome-package","version":"1.0.0","description":"The best package you will ever find.","main":"index.js","repository":{"url":"https://github.com/yarnpkg/example-yarn-package","type":"git"},"author":"Yarn Contributor","license":"MIT"}
By default, if answer given to
question private
is passed in as empty, theprivate
key will not be added topackage.json
If you already have an existing package.json
file, then it will use the file’s entries as defaults.
The following existing package.json
:
{"name":"my-existing-package","version":"0.1","description":"I exist therefore I am.","repository":{"url":"https://github.com/yarnpkg/example-yarn-package","type":"git"},"license":"BSD-2-Clause"}
Results in the following defaults during the interactive session:
$ yarn init
question name (my-existing-package): question version (0.1): question description (I exist therefore I am.): question entry point (index.js): question git repository (https://github.com/yarnpkg/example-yarn-package): question author: Yarn Contributor question license (BSD-2-Clause): question private: success Saved package.json ✨ Done in 121.53s.
Setting defaults for yarn init
The following config variables can be used to customize the defaults for yarn init
:
init-author-name
init-author-email
init-author-url
init-version
init-license
yarn init --yes/-y
This command skips the interactive session mentioned above and generates a package.json
based on your defaults. Some defaults may be modified changing init-*
config
settings like mentioned above. For example, given a fresh install of Yarn and inside a yarn-example
directory:
$ yarn init --yes
warning The yes flag has been set. This will automatically answer yes to all questions which may have security implications. success Saved package.json ✨ Done in 0.09s.
Which produces the following package.json
:
{"name":"yarn-example","version":"1.0.0","main":"index.js","license":"MIT"}
yarn init --private/-p
automatically add
private: true
to thepackage.json
$ yarn init --private
If the private
flag is set, the private
key will be automatically set to true
and you still complete the rest of the init
process.
question name (testdir): my-awesome-package question version (1.0.0): question description: The best package you will ever find. question entry point (index.js): question git repository: https://github.com/yarnpkg/example-yarn-package question author: Yarn Contributor question license (MIT): success Saved package.json ✨ Done in 87.70s.
{"name":"my-awesome-package","version":"1.0.0","description":"The best package you will ever find.","main":"index.js","repository":{"url":"https://github.com/yarnpkg/example-yarn-package","type":"git"},"author":"Yarn Contributor","license":"MIT","private":true}
You can use both the yes
and the private
flags at the same time
Like this:
$ yarn init -yp
warning The yes flag has been set. This will automatically answer yes to all questions which may have security implications. success Saved package.json ✨ Done in 0.05s.
Which produces the following package.json
:
{"name":"yarn-example","version":"1.0.0","main":"index.js","license":"MIT","private":true}