Skip to main content
Version: 10.x

Auth & Registry Settings (.npmrc)

The settings on this page must be configured via .npmrc files. pnpm uses the npm CLI under the hood for publishing, so these settings need to be in a format that npm can read.

For details on how .npmrc files are loaded, see the pnpm config command.

For settings that can be configured in pnpm-workspace.yaml, see Settings (pnpm-workspace.yaml).

Environment variables​

Values in .npmrc files may reference environment variables using the ${NAME} syntax.

Since v10.34.2, environment variables are not expanded in the project and workspace .npmrc files (those checked out together with the repository) for the following settings:

  • registry and proxy URLs (registry, @scope:registry, proxy, https-proxy, http-proxy);
  • URL-scoped keys (keys starting with //);
  • credential values (_authToken, _auth, _password, username, tokenHelper, cert, key).

A setting that contains a ${...} placeholder in any of these positions is ignored, and pnpm prints a warning. Repository-controlled .npmrc files must not be able to expand environment variables into the URLs pnpm sends requests to, or into the credentials attached to those requests — otherwise a malicious repository could exfiltrate secrets from your environment (such as CI tokens) to an attacker-controlled registry during installation (GHSA-3qhv-2rgh-x77r).

If your project relied on a committed .npmrc containing a line like //registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}, move the token to a trusted location instead:

  • Write the token to the global config file before installing (for example, in a CI step):

    pnpm config set //registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken "$NPM_TOKEN"

    pnpm config set writes to the global config file by default, not to the project .npmrc, so the token never ends up in the repository.

  • Or keep the ${NPM_TOKEN} placeholder line, but put it in the user-level ~/.npmrc instead of the repository — environment variables are still expanded there.

  • Or set the value via an environment variable directly, without any .npmrc entry:

    npm_config_//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

  • In GitHub Actions, actions/setup-node with the registry-url input writes the auth setting to a user-level .npmrc (referenced by the NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG environment variable, which pnpm honors), so authentication via the NODE_AUTH_TOKEN environment variable continues to work.

  • If you cannot easily modify each CI pipeline, you may declare the project .npmrc trusted by setting a single environment variable in the CI environment (for example, at the organization or workspace level):

    NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG=.npmrc

    This makes pnpm read the project's .npmrc as the user-level config file (a relative path is resolved against the working directory), so environment variables in it are expanded as before. Because the trust declaration comes from the environment — not from the repository — a malicious repository cannot set it for you.

    danger

    Only use this in environments that exclusively build trusted repositories. It disables this protection entirely for the checked-out repository, including the restriction that tokenHelper may only be set in user-level config.

The same rule applies to registry and proxy URLs in a project or workspace .npmrc (registry, @scope:registry, proxy, https-proxy, http-proxy). If you used an environment variable to build a registry URL, move the setting to a trusted source — your user-level ~/.npmrc, the global config (pnpm config set "<key>" <value>), a CLI option, or an environment variable. If the URL is not secret, you can also write the resolved value directly in the project .npmrc, since only ${...} placeholders are ignored.

Registry Settings​

registry​

The base URL of the npm package registry (trailing slash included).

@jsr:registry​

Added in: v10.9.0

The base URL of the JSR package registry.

<scope>:registry​

The npm registry that should be used for packages of the specified scope. For example, setting @babel:registry=https://example.com/packages/npm/ will enforce that when you use pnpm add @babel/core, or any @babel scoped package, the package will be fetched from https://example.com/packages/npm instead of the default registry.

Authentication Settings​

<URL>:_authToken​

Define the authentication bearer token to use when accessing the specified registry. For example:

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

You may also use an environment variable. For example:

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}

Since v10.34.2, environment variables are only expanded in trusted locations (the user ~/.npmrc, the global config, CLI options, and npm_config_* environment variables), not in the project or workspace .npmrc. See Environment variables.

Or you may just use an environment variable directly, without changing .npmrc at all:

npm_config_//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

<URL>:tokenHelper​

A token helper is an executable which outputs an auth token. This can be used in situations where the authToken is not a constant value but is something that refreshes regularly, where a script or other tool can use an existing refresh token to obtain a new access token.

The configuration for the path to the helper must be an absolute path, with no arguments. In order to be secure, it is only permitted to set this value in the user .npmrc. Otherwise a project could place a value in a project's local .npmrc and run arbitrary executables.

Setting a token helper for the default registry:

tokenHelper=/home/ivan/token-generator

Setting a token helper for the specified registry:

//registry.corp.com:tokenHelper=/home/ivan/token-generator

Proxy Settings​

https-proxy​

  • Default: null
  • Type: url

A proxy to use for outgoing HTTPS requests. If the HTTPS_PROXY, https_proxy, HTTP_PROXY or http_proxy environment variables are set, their values will be used instead.

If your proxy URL contains a username and password, make sure to URL-encode them. For instance:

https-proxy=https://use%21r:pas%2As@my.proxy:1234/foo

Do not encode the colon (:) between the username and password.

http-proxy​

proxy​

  • Default: null
  • Type: url

A proxy to use for outgoing http requests. If the HTTP_PROXY or http_proxy environment variables are set, proxy settings will be honored by the underlying request library.

local-address​

  • Default: undefined
  • Type: IP Address

The IP address of the local interface to use when making connections to the npm registry.

maxsockets​

  • Default: networkConcurrency x 3
  • Type: Number

The maximum number of connections to use per origin (protocol/host/port combination).

noproxy​

  • Default: null
  • Type: String

A comma-separated string of domain extensions that a proxy should not be used for.

SSL Settings​

strict-ssl​

  • Default: true
  • Type: Boolean

Whether or not to do SSL key validation when making requests to the registry via HTTPS.

See also the ca option.

Certificate Settings​

ca​

  • Default: The npm CA certificate
  • Type: String, Array or null

The Certificate Authority signing certificate that is trusted for SSL connections to the registry. Values should be in PEM format (AKA "Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)"). For example:

ca="-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\nXXXX\nXXXX\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----"

Set to null to only allow known registrars, or to a specific CA cert to trust only that specific signing authority.

Multiple CAs can be trusted by specifying an array of certificates:

ca[]="..."
ca[]="..."

See also the strict-ssl config.

cafile​

  • Default: null
  • Type: path

A path to a file containing one or multiple Certificate Authority signing certificates. Similar to the ca setting, but allows for multiple CAs, as well as for the CA information to be stored in a file instead of being specified via CLI.

<URL>:cafile​

Define the path to a Certificate Authority file to use when accessing the specified registry. For example:

//registry.npmjs.org/:cafile=ca-cert.pem

<URL>:ca​

Added in: v10.25.0

Define an inline Certificate Authority certificate for the specified registry. The value must be PEM-encoded, like the global ca setting, but it only applies to the matching registry URL.

//registry.example.com/:ca=-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----...-----END CERTIFICATE-----

cert​

  • Default: null
  • Type: String

A client certificate to pass when accessing the registry. Values should be in PEM format (AKA "Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)"). For example:

cert="-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\nXXXX\nXXXX\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----"

It is not the path to a certificate file.

<URL>:cert​

Added in: v10.25.0

Define an inline client certificate to use when accessing the specified registry. Example:

//registry.example.com/:cert=-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----...-----END CERTIFICATE-----

<URL>:certfile​

Define the path to a certificate file to use when accessing the specified registry. For example:

//registry.npmjs.org/:certfile=server-cert.pem

key​

  • Default: null
  • Type: String

A client key to pass when accessing the registry. Values should be in PEM format (AKA "Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)"). For example:

key="-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\nXXXX\nXXXX\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----"

It is not the path to a key file. Use <URL>&#58;keyfile if you need to reference the file system instead of inlining the key.

This setting contains sensitive information. Don't write it to a local .npmrc file committed to the repository.

<URL>:key​

Added in: v10.25.0

Define an inline client key for the specified registry URL.

//registry.example.com/:key=-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----...-----END PRIVATE KEY-----

<URL>:keyfile​

Define the path to a client key file to use when accessing the specified registry. For example:

//registry.npmjs.org/:keyfile=server-key.pem