.TH "NPM\-EXPLAIN" "1" "undefined NaN" "" ""
.SH "NAME"
\fBnpm-explain\fR \- Explain installed packages
.SS Synopsis
.P
.RS 2
.nf
npm explain <folder | specifier>

alias: why
.fi
.RE
.SS Description
.P
This command will print the chain of dependencies causing a given package
to be installed in the current project\.
.P
Positional arguments can be either folders within \fBnode_modules\fP, or
\fBname@version\-range\fP specifiers, which will select the dependency
relationships to explain\.
.P
For example, running \fBnpm explain glob\fP within npm's source tree will show:
.P
.RS 2
.nf
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
.fi
.RE
.P
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\.
.P
.RS 2
.nf
$ 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
.fi
.RE
.SS Configuration
.SS json
.RS 0
.IP \(bu 2
Default: false
.IP \(bu 2
Type: Boolean

.RE
.P
Show information in JSON format\.
.SS See Also
.RS 0
.IP \(bu 2
npm help config
.IP \(bu 2
npm help npmrc
.IP \(bu 2
npm help folders
.IP \(bu 2
npm help ls
.IP \(bu 2
npm help install
.IP \(bu 2
npm help link
.IP \(bu 2
npm help prune
.IP \(bu 2
npm help outdated
.IP \(bu 2
npm help update

.RE