Commands like \fBnpm install\fR and the dependency sections in the \fBpackage.json\fR use a package name specifier. This can be many different things that all refer to a "package". Examples include a package name, git url, tarball, or local directory. These will generally be referred to as \fB<package-spec>\fR in the help output for the npm commands that use this package name specifier.
Refers to a package by name, with or without a scope, and optionally tag, version, or version range. This is typically used in combination with the \fBregistry\fR\fI\(la/using-npm/config#registry\(ra\fR config to refer to a package in a registry.
Primarily used by commands like \fBnpm install\fR and in the dependency sections in the \fBpackage.json\fR, this refers to a package by an alias. The \fB<alias>\fR is the name of the package as it is reified in the \fBnode_modules\fR folder, and the \fB<name>\fR refers to a package name as found in the configured registry.
See \fBPackage name\fR above for more info on referring to a package by name, and \fBregistry\fR\fI\(la/using-npm/config#registry\(ra\fR for configuring which registry is used when referring to a package by name.
This refers to a package on the local filesystem. Specifically this is a folder with a \fBpackage.json\fR file in it. This \fIshould\fR always be prefixed with a \fB/\fR or \fB./\fR (or your OS equivalent) to reduce confusion. npm currently will parse a string with more than one \fB/\fR in it as a folder, but this is legacy behavior that may be removed in a future version.
Refers to a package in a tarball format, either on the local filesystem or remotely via url. This is the format that packages exist in when uploaded to a registry.
Refers to a package in a git repo. This can be a full git url, git shorthand, or a username/package on GitHub. You can specify a git tag, branch, or other git ref by appending \fB#ref\fR.
