npm dist-tag add <pkg>@<version> [<tag>] npm dist-tag rm <pkg> <tag> npm dist-tag ls [<pkg>] aliases: dist-tags
Add, remove, and enumerate distribution tags on a package:
A tag can be used when installing packages as a reference to a version instead of using a specific version number:
npm install <name>@<tag>
When installing dependencies, a preferred tagged version may be specified:
npm install --tag <tag>
This also applies to npm dedupe.
Publishing a package sets the latest tag to the published version unless the --tag option is used. For example, npm publish --tag=beta.
By default, npm install <pkg> (without any @<version> or @<tag> specifier) installs the latest tag.
Tags can be used to provide an alias instead of version numbers.
For example, a project might choose to have multiple streams of development and use a different tag for each stream, e.g., stable, beta, dev, canary.
By default, the latest tag is used by npm to identify the current version of a package, and npm install <pkg> (without any @<version> or @<tag> specifier) installs the latest tag. Typically, projects only use the latest tag for stable release versions, and use other tags for unstable versions such as prereleases.
The next tag is used by some projects to identify the upcoming version.
By default, other than latest, no tag has any special significance to npm itself.
This command used to be known as npm tag, which only created new tags, and so had a different syntax.
Tags must share a namespace with version numbers, because they are specified in the same slot: npm install <pkg>@<version> vs npm install <pkg>@<tag>.
Tags that can be interpreted as valid semver ranges will be rejected. For example, v1.4 cannot be used as a tag, because it is interpreted by semver as >=1.4.0 <1.5.0. See https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/6082.
The simplest way to avoid semver problems with tags is to use tags that do not begin with a number or the letter v.