1---
2section: cli-commands
3title: npm-cache
4description: Manipulates packages cache
5---
6
7# npm-cache(1)
8
9## Manipulates packages cache
10
11### Synopsis
12
13```bash
14npm cache add <tarball file>
15npm cache add <folder>
16npm cache add <tarball url>
17npm cache add <name>@<version>
18
19npm cache clean [<path>]
20aliases: npm cache clear, npm cache rm
21
22npm cache verify
23```
24
25### Description
26
27Used to add, list, or clean the npm cache folder.
28
29* add:
30  Add the specified package to the local cache.  This command is primarily
31  intended to be used internally by npm, but it can provide a way to
32  add data to the local installation cache explicitly.
33
34* clean:
35  Delete all data out of the cache folder.
36
37* verify:
38  Verify the contents of the cache folder, garbage collecting any unneeded data,
39  and verifying the integrity of the cache index and all cached data.
40
41### Details
42
43npm stores cache data in an opaque directory within the configured `cache`,
44named `_cacache`. This directory is a `cacache`-based content-addressable cache
45that stores all http request data as well as other package-related data. This
46directory is primarily accessed through `pacote`, the library responsible for
47all package fetching as of npm@5.
48
49All data that passes through the cache is fully verified for integrity on both
50insertion and extraction. Cache corruption will either trigger an error, or
51signal to `pacote` that the data must be refetched, which it will do
52automatically. For this reason, it should never be necessary to clear the cache
53for any reason other than reclaiming disk space, thus why `clean` now requires
54`--force` to run.
55
56There is currently no method exposed through npm to inspect or directly manage
57the contents of this cache. In order to access it, `cacache` must be used
58directly.
59
60npm will not remove data by itself: the cache will grow as new packages are
61installed.
62
63### A note about the cache's design
64
65The npm cache is strictly a cache: it should not be relied upon as a persistent
66and reliable data store for package data. npm makes no guarantee that a
67previously-cached piece of data will be available later, and will automatically
68delete corrupted contents. The primary guarantee that the cache makes is that,
69if it does return data, that data will be exactly the data that was inserted.
70
71To run an offline verification of existing cache contents, use `npm cache
72verify`.
73
74### Configuration
75
76#### cache
77
78Default: `~/.npm` on Posix, or `%AppData%/npm-cache` on Windows.
79
80The root cache folder.
81
82### See Also
83
84* [npm folders](/configuring-npm/folders)
85* [npm config](/cli-commands/npm-config)
86* [npmrc](/configuring-npm/npmrc)
87* [npm install](/cli-commands/npm-install)
88* [npm publish](/cli-commands/npm-publish)
89* [npm pack](/cli-commands/npm-pack)
90* https://npm.im/cacache
91* https://npm.im/pacote
92