Search npm Registry

Search the npm registry for packages by keyword, name, or description.

Usage

npx tsx scripts/search.ts <query> [options]

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
`query`	Yes	Search query (can be package name, keyword, or description text)

Options

Option	Description
`--size=N`	Number of results to return (default: 20, max: 250)
`--from=N`	Offset for pagination (default: 0)
`--no-cache`	Bypass cache and fetch fresh data from API

Output

Found 1,234 packages for "http"

1. express (4.18.2)
   Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework
   Score: 0.98 (quality: 0.95, popularity: 1.0, maintenance: 0.99)
   https://www.npmjs.com/package/express

2. axios (1.6.0)
   Promise based HTTP client for the browser and node.js
   Score: 0.97 (quality: 0.94, popularity: 1.0, maintenance: 0.98)
   https://www.npmjs.com/package/axios

Script Execution (Preferred)

npx tsx scripts/search.ts <query> [options]

Options:

--size=N - Number of results to return (default: 20, max: 250)
--from=N - Offset for pagination (default: 0)
--no-cache - Bypass cache and fetch fresh data from API

Run from the npm-registry plugin directory: ~/.claude/plugins/cache/npm-registry/

Search API

GET https://registry.npmjs.org/-/v1/search

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Type	Description
`text`	Yes	string	Search query (can be package name, keyword, or description text)
`size`	No	number	Number of results to return (default: 20, max: 250)
`from`	No	number	Offset for pagination (default: 0)

Examples

Search for HTTP-related packages:

https://registry.npmjs.org/-/v1/search?text=http&size=10

Search with pagination:

https://registry.npmjs.org/-/v1/search?text=react&size=20&from=20

Response Format

Each result contains:

package.name - Package name
package.version - Latest version
package.description - Package description
package.keywords - Array of keywords (if available)
package.author - Author information
package.links - URLs to npm, homepage, repository, bugs
score.final - Overall score (0-1)
score.detail.quality - Quality score (0-1)
score.detail.popularity - Popularity score (0-1)
score.detail.maintenance - Maintenance score (0-1)
searchScore - Relevance to search query

Search Tips

Keyword search: Use common keywords like "http", "database", "testing"
Specific packages: Type the package name directly
Combine terms: Use multiple words for more specific results
Author search: Search by author name to find their packages

Caching

Search results are cached for 1 hour. The npm registry search index is updated frequently but package metadata changes less often.

Use the --no-cache flag to bypass the cache and fetch fresh results.

Use npm-info to get detailed package metadata
Use npm-exists to quickly check if a package name is available
Use npm-downloads to view download statistics

Error Handling

If the search returns no results, try:

Using more general search terms
Checking for typos in the query
Exploring alternative keywords

Rate limiting: The npm registry may rate limit excessive requests. If you encounter rate limiting, wait a few minutes before trying again.

npm-search