Initializing NPM and Installing Our First Node.js Third-Party Module Nodemon

When working with Node.js, it is essential to manage dependencies and packages effectively. NPM (Node Package Manager) is a vital tool for this purpose. In this article, we will cover how to initialize NPM in a project and install our first Node.js third-party module, Nodemon.

Initializing NPM

Before we can start installing third-party modules, we need to initialize NPM in our project. Open your terminal and navigate to the root directory of your project. Then, run the following command:

      
        npm init
      
    

This command will prompt you to provide information such as the package name, version, description, entry point, test command, repository, keywords, author, and license for your project. You can either fill out these details or press enter to accept the default values.

Installing Nodemon

Once NPM is initialized, we can proceed to install our first Node.js third-party module. Nodemon is a utility that helps in automatically restarting the node application when changes are detected in the source code. To install Nodemon, run the following command in your terminal:

      
        npm install nodemon --save-dev
      
    

This command will install Nodemon as a development dependency in your project. The --save-dev flag ensures that Nodemon is added to the devDependencies section of the package.json file.

Using Nodemon

Once Nodemon is installed, you can use it to run your Node.js application by replacing the node command with nodemon. For example, if your application’s entry point is index.js, you can run it using Nodemon by typing the following command in your terminal:

      
        nodemon index.js
      
    

Nodemon will now watch for changes in your source code and automatically restart the application whenever a change is detected. This can greatly improve the development workflow by saving you the hassle of manually restarting the application after making changes.

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to initialize NPM in a project and install our first Node.js third-party module, Nodemon. Nodemon can be a valuable tool for Node.js developers, especially during the development phase. By automatically restarting the application when changes are detected, Nodemon can save time and streamline the development process.