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deno install

Command-line Usage

deno install [OPTIONS] [cmd]...

Installs dependencies either in the local project or globally to a bin directory.

Local installation Jump to heading

Add dependencies to the local project's configuration (deno.json / package.json) and installs them in the package cache. If no dependency is specified, installs all dependencies listed in the config file. If the --entrypoint flag is passed, installs the dependencies of the specified entrypoint(s).

deno install

deno install @std/bytes

deno install npm:chalk

deno install --entrypoint entry1.ts entry2.ts

Global installation Jump to heading

If the --global flag is set, installs a script as an executable in the installation root's bin directory.

deno install --global --allow-net --allow-read jsr:@std/http/file-server

deno install -g https://examples.deno.land/color-logging.ts

To change the executable name, use -n/

--name

:

deno install -g --allow-net --allow-read -n serve jsr:@std/http/file-server

The executable name is inferred by default:

  • Attempt to take the file stem of the URL path. The above example would become file_server.
  • If the file stem is something generic like main, mod, index or cli, and the path has no parent, take the file name of the parent path. Otherwise settle with the generic name.
  • If the resulting name has an @... suffix, strip it.

To change the installation root, use

--root

:

deno install -g --allow-net --allow-read --root /usr/local jsr:@std/http/file-server

The installation root is determined, in order of precedence:

  • --root option
  • DENO_INSTALL_ROOT environment variable
  • $HOME/.deno

These must be added to the path manually if required.


Type checking options Jump to heading

--no-check Jump to heading

Skip type-checking. If the value of "remote" is supplied, diagnostic errors from remote modules will be ignored.

--check Jump to heading

Set type-checking behavior. This subcommand type-checks local modules by default, so adding --check is redundant If the value of "all" is supplied, remote modules will be included. Alternatively, the 'deno check' subcommand can be used.

Dependency management options Jump to heading

--import-map Jump to heading

Load import map file from local file or remote URL.

--no-remote Jump to heading

Do not resolve remote modules.

--no-npm Jump to heading

Do not resolve npm modules.

--node-modules-dir Jump to heading

Sets the node modules management mode for npm packages.

--vendor Jump to heading

Toggles local vendor folder usage for remote modules and a node_modules folder for npm packages.

--reload Jump to heading

Short flag: -r

Reload source code cache (recompile TypeScript) no value Reload everything jsr:@std/http/file-server,jsr:@std/assert/assert-equals Reloads specific modules npm: Reload all npm modules npm:chalk Reload specific npm module.

--lock Jump to heading

Check the specified lock file. (If value is not provided, defaults to "./deno.lock").

--no-lock Jump to heading

Disable auto discovery of the lock file.

--frozen Jump to heading

Error out if lockfile is out of date.

--cached-only Jump to heading

Require that remote dependencies are already cached.

Options Jump to heading

--config Jump to heading

Short flag: -c

Configure different aspects of deno including TypeScript, linting, and code formatting Typically the configuration file will be called deno.json or deno.jsonc and automatically detected; in that case this flag is not necessary.

--no-config Jump to heading

Disable automatic loading of the configuration file.

--cert Jump to heading

Load certificate authority from PEM encoded file.

--location Jump to heading

Value of globalThis.location used by some web APIs.

--v8-flags Jump to heading

To see a list of all available flags use --v8-flags=--help Flags can also be set via the DENO_V8_FLAGS environment variable. Any flags set with this flag are appended after the DENO_V8_FLAGS environment variable.

--seed Jump to heading

Set the random number generator seed.

--allow-scripts Jump to heading

Allow running npm lifecycle scripts for the given packages Note: Scripts will only be executed when using a node_modules directory (--node-modules-dir).

--name Jump to heading

Short flag: -n

Executable file name.

--root Jump to heading

Installation root.

--force Jump to heading

Short flag: -f

Forcefully overwrite existing installation.

--global Jump to heading

Short flag: -g

Install a package or script as a globally available executable.

--entrypoint Jump to heading

Short flag: -e

Install dependents of the specified entrypoint(s).

--env-file Jump to heading

Load environment variables from local file Only the first environment variable with a given key is used. Existing process environment variables are not overwritten.

--dev Jump to heading

Short flag: -D

Add as a dev dependency.

Debugging options Jump to heading

--inspect Jump to heading

Activate inspector on host:port [default: 127.0.0.1:9229]

--inspect-brk Jump to heading

Activate inspector on host:port, wait for debugger to connect and break at the start of user script.

--inspect-wait Jump to heading

Activate inspector on host:port and wait for debugger to connect before running user code.

Examples Jump to heading

deno install Jump to heading

Use this command to install all dependencies defined in deno.json and/or package.json.

The dependencies will be installed in the global cache, but if your project has a package.json file, a local node_modules directory will be set up as well.

deno install [PACKAGES] Jump to heading

Use this command to install particular packages and add them to deno.json or package.json.

$ deno install jsr:@std/testing npm:express

Tip

You can also use deno add which is an alias to deno install [PACKAGES]

If your project has a package.json file, the packages coming from npm will be added to dependencies in package.json. Otherwise all packages will be added to deno.json.

deno install --entrypoint [FILES] Jump to heading

Use this command to install all depenedencies that are used in the provided files and their dependencies.

This is particularly useful if you use jsr:, npm:, http: or https: specifiers in your code and want to cache all the dependencies before deploying your project.

main.js
import * as colors from "jsr:@std/fmt/colors";
import express from "npm:express";

$ deno install -e main.js
Download jsr:@std/fmt
Download npm:express

Tip

If you want to set up local node_modules directory, you can pass --node-modules-dir=auto flag.

Some dependencies might not work correctly without a local node_modules directory.

deno install --global [PACKAGE_OR_URL] Jump to heading

Use this command to install provide package or script as a globally available binary on your system.

This command creates a thin, executable shell script which invokes deno using the specified CLI flags and main module. It is placed in the installation root's bin directory.

Example:

$ deno install --global --allow-net --allow-read jsr:@std/http/file-server
Download jsr:@std/http/file-server...

✅ Successfully installed file-server.
/Users/deno/.deno/bin/file-server

To change the executable name, use -n/--name:

deno install -g -N -R -n serve jsr:@std/http/file-server

The executable name is inferred by default:

  • Attempt to take the file stem of the URL path. The above example would become 'file-server'.
  • If the file stem is something generic like 'main', 'mod', 'index' or 'cli', and the path has no parent, take the file name of the parent path. Otherwise settle with the generic name.
  • If the resulting name has an '@...' suffix, strip it.

To change the installation root, use --root:

deno install -g -N -R --root /usr/local jsr:@std/http/file-server

The installation root is determined, in order of precedence:

  • --root option
  • DENO_INSTALL_ROOT environment variable
  • $HOME/.deno

These must be added to the path manually if required.

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.deno/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

You must specify permissions that will be used to run the script at installation time.

deno install -g -N -R jsr:@std/http/file-server -- -p 8080

The above command creates an executable called file_server that runs with network and read permissions and binds to port 8080.

For good practice, use the import.meta.main idiom to specify the entry point in an executable script.

Example:

// https://example.com/awesome/cli.ts
async function myAwesomeCli(): Promise<void> {
  // -- snip --
}

if (import.meta.main) {
  myAwesomeCli();
}

When you create an executable script make sure to let users know by adding an example installation command to your repository:

# Install using deno install

$ deno install -n awesome_cli https://example.com/awesome/cli.ts

Native Node.js addons Jump to heading

A lot of popular packages npm packages like npm:sqlite3 or npm:duckdb depend on "lifecycle scripts", eg. preinstall or postinstall scripts. Most often running these scripts is required for a package to work correctly.

Unlike npm, Deno does not run these scripts by default as they pose a potential security vulnerability.

You can still run these scripts by passing the --allow-scripts=<packages> flag when running deno install:

deno install --allow-scripts=npm:sqlite3

Install all dependencies and allow npm:sqlite3 package to run its lifecycle scripts.

Uninstall Jump to heading

You can uninstall dependencies or binary script with deno uninstall command:

$ deno uninstall express
Removed express

$ deno uninstall -g file-server
deleted /Users/deno/.deno/bin/file-server
✅ Successfully uninstalled file-server

See deno uninstall page for more details.