nLabs NPM Manager
A Visual Studio-style npm package manager for Node.js projects inside VS Code.
Search, install, update and remove packages across every project in your
workspace, without leaving the editor and without memorising CLI flags.
Features
- 3-column layout — Projects | Package List | Details
- Search — Query the npm registry with sorting options
- Installed tab — Every package declared in the selected
package.json,
grouped by dependencies / devDependencies / peerDependencies
- Updates tab — Packages with a newer version, with a badge count
- Package details — Description, license, homepage, repository, keywords,
weekly downloads and the package's own dependency list
- Version selector — Pick any published version; latest is pre-selected
- Dev dependencies — Install straight into
devDependencies
- npm / yarn / pnpm — Detected from the lock file, or pinned in settings
- Multi-project workspace — Every
package.json in the workspace is listed
- Resizable columns — Drag the gutters to adjust panel widths
- 4 languages — Turkish, English, German, French (follows the VS Code locale)
Safety
Package managers are destructive tools, so the extension is deliberately
careful in three places:
- Major version jumps require confirmation. Upgrading one package of a
family on its own (say, a single Angular package from 21 to 22) leaves a
project that will not build. Those updates are marked in a different colour
and ask before running.
- The dependency section is preserved. Updating a
devDependency keeps it
in devDependencies instead of silently moving it to dependencies.
- Success is read from
package.json, not the exit code. pnpm can return a
non-zero code after a perfectly successful install; the extension checks what
actually changed on disk before reporting.
Requirements
- Node.js installed and available on
PATH
- npm, yarn or pnpm on
PATH
- A
package.json somewhere in your workspace
Usage
Open the manager:
- Right-click a folder or a
package.json in the Explorer -> nLabs: NPM Manager
- Command Palette (
Ctrl+Shift+P) -> nLabs: NPM Manager
- Click the package icon in the editor title bar while a
package.json is open
Install a package:
- Search for a package name
- Click the result to see its details
- Pick a version from the dropdown
- Click Yukle (Install) — or Dev Yukle (Install Dev) for a devDependency
Update a package:
- Open the Guncellemeler (Updates) tab
- Click the package; the latest version is pre-selected
- Click Guncelle (Update) — a major version jump will ask for confirmation
Remove a package:
- Open the Yuklu (Installed) tab
- Click the package
- Click Kaldir (Remove)
When a command fails, the notification stays short and the full output of the
package manager is written to the nLabs NPM output channel.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
nlabsNpm.language |
auto |
Display language: auto, tr, en, de, fr |
nlabsNpm.packageManager |
auto |
auto (detect from lock file), npm, yarn, pnpm |
Extension Commands
| Command |
Description |
nLabs: NPM Manager |
Open the NPM Manager panel |
Development
npm install
npm run compile # tsc -p ./
npm test # 34 unit tests, node:test, no test dependencies
npm run package # build the .vsix
Press F5 to launch an Extension Development Host. It opens test-fixtures/
as its workspace, which contains five projects covering npm / yarn / pnpm lock
files, awkward version ranges and an empty project. The manual checklist lives
in test-fixtures/README.md.
License
MIT — see LICENSE.
| |
