Installing Express

<!DOCTYPE html>  <html lang="en" prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns#"> <head> <title>Installing Express</title> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/images/favicon.png" /> <script data-cfasync="false" src="/js/theme.js"></script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/dark-theme.css?_=1732805297"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/style.css?_=1732805297"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/prism.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/font-awesome.min.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans:300,400,600,700&amp;subset=latin,latin-ext"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/en.css"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <meta name="description" content="Learn how to install Express.js in your Node.js environment, including setting up your project directory and managing dependencies with 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data-cfasync="false" src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script> <script data-cfasync="false" src="/js/ismobile.js"></script> <script data-cfasync="false" src="/js/app.js"></script> <script data-cfasync="false" defer src="/js/menu.js"></script> <script data-cfasync="false" src="/js/retina.js"></script> <script data-cfasync="false" src="/js/prism.js"></script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/docsearch.js@2/dist/cdn/docsearch.min.css" /> </head> <body class="en-doc"> <section class="page content"> <header> <div id="mobile-menu"> <div id="nav-button" class="fa fa-bars fa-2x button"></div> </div> <section id="logo"><a href="/" class="express">Express</a> </section> <div id="navbar"> <input id="q" placeholder="馃攷 search"> <ul id="navmenu"> <li><a href="/" id="home-menu">Home</a></li> <li id="getting-started-menu" class="submenu"> <a href="/en/starter/installing.html" class="active">Getting started</a> <ul class="submenu-content"> <li> <a href="/en/starter/installing.html"> Installing </a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/starter/hello-world.html"> Hello world </a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/starter/generator.html"> Express generator </a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/starter/basic-routing.html"> Basic routing </a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/starter/static-files.html"> Static files </a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/starter/examples.html"> More examples </a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/starter/faq.html"> FAQ </a> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="guide-menu" class="submenu"> <a href="/en/guide/routing.html">Guide</a> <ul class="submenu-content"> <li><a href="/en/guide/routing.html">Routing</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/guide/writing-middleware.html">Writing middleware</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/guide/using-middleware.html">Using middleware</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/guide/overriding-express-api.html">Overriding the Express API</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/guide/using-template-engines.html">Using template engines</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/guide/error-handling.html">Error handling</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/guide/debugging.html">Debugging</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/guide/behind-proxies.html">Express behind proxies</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/guide/migrating-4.html">Moving to Express 4</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/guide/migrating-5.html">Moving to Express 5</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/guide/database-integration.html">Database integration</a> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="application-menu" class="submenu"> <a href="/en/5x/api.html">API reference</a> <ul class="submenu-content"> <li><a href="/en/5x/api.html">5.x</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/4x/api.html">4.x</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/3x/api.html">3.x (deprecated)</a> </li> <li><a href="/2x/">2.x (deprecated)</a> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="advanced-topics-menu" class="submenu"> <a href="/en/advanced/developing-template-engines.html">Advanced topics</a> <ul class="submenu-content"> <li><a href="/en/advanced/developing-template-engines.html">Building template engines</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/advanced/security-updates.html">Security updates</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/advanced/best-practice-security.html">Security best practices</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/advanced/best-practice-performance.html">Performance best practices</a> </li> <li><a href="/en/advanced/healthcheck-graceful-shutdown.html">Health checks & shutdown</a> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="resources-menu" class="submenu"> <a href="/en/resources/glossary.html">Resources</a> <ul class="submenu-content"> <li> <a href="/en/resources/community.html">Community</a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/resources/glossary.html">Glossary</a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/resources/middleware.html">Middleware</a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/resources/utils.html">Utility modules</a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/resources/contributing.html">Contributing to Express</a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/changelog/4x.html">Release Change Log</a> </li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/en/support" id="support-menu">Support</a></li> <li id="blog-menu" class="submenu"> <a href="/2024/10/22/security-audit-milestone-achievement.html">Blog</a> <ul class="submenu-content"> <li> <a href="/2024/10/22/security-audit-milestone-achievement.html">Latest post</a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/blog/posts.html">All posts</a> </li> <li> <a href="/en/blog/write-post.html">Write a Post</a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> <div id="theme-icon-container" class="theme-toggle default-theme" title="toggle darkmode"> <i class="fa fa-moon-o fa-2x hidden-dark"></i> <span class="sun-icon hidden-light"></span> </div> </header> <div id="overlay"></div> <div id="page-doc" markdown="1"> <h1 id="installing">Installing</h1> <p>Assuming you鈥檝e already installed <a href="https://nodejs.org/">Node.js</a>, create a directory to hold your application, and make that your working directory.</p> <ul> <li><a href="/en/4x/api.html">Express 4.x</a> requires Node.js 0.10 or higher.</li> <li><a href="/en/5x/api.html">Express 5.x</a> requires Node.js 18 or higher.</li> </ul> <pre><code class="language-console">$ mkdir myapp $ cd myapp </code></pre> <p>Use the <code>npm init</code> command to create a <code>package.json</code> file for your application. For more information on how <code>package.json</code> works, see <a href="https://docs.npmjs.com/files/package.json">Specifics of npm鈥檚 package.json handling</a>.</p> <pre><code class="language-console">$ npm init </code></pre> <p>This command prompts you for a number of things, such as the name and version of your application. For now, you can simply hit RETURN to accept the defaults for most of them, with the following exception:</p> <pre><code>entry point: (index.js) </code></pre> <p>Enter <code>app.js</code>, or whatever you want the name of the main file to be. If you want it to be <code>index.js</code>, hit RETURN to accept the suggested default file name.</p> <p>Now, install Express in the <code>myapp</code> directory and save it in the dependencies list. For example:</p> <pre><code class="language-console">$ npm install express </code></pre> <p>To install Express temporarily and not add it to the dependencies list:</p> <pre><code class="language-console">$ npm install express --no-save </code></pre> <div class="doc-box doc-info"> <p>By default with version npm 5.0+, <code>npm install</code> adds the module to the <code>dependencies</code> list in the <code>package.json</code> file; with earlier versions of npm, you must specify the <code>--save</code> option explicitly. Then, afterwards, running <code>npm install</code> in the app directory will automatically install modules in the dependencies list.</p> </div> <h3 id="next-hello-world-"><a href="/en/starter/hello-world.html">Next: Hello World </a></h3> </div> </section> <a id="top" href="#"><img src="/images/arrow.png"></a> <footer> <section id="doc-langs"> Documentation translations provided by StrongLoop/IBM: <a href="/fr/">French</a>, <a href="/de/">German</a>, <a href="/es/">Spanish</a>, <a href="/it/">Italian</a>, <a href="/ja/">Japanese</a>, <a href="/ru/">Russian</a>, <a href="/zh-cn/">Chinese</a>, <a href="/zh-tw/">Traditional Chinese</a>, <a href="/ko/">Korean</a>, <a href="/pt-br/">Portuguese</a>. <br> Community translation available for: <a href="/sk/">Slovak</a>, <a href="/uk/">Ukrainian</a>, <a href="/uz/">Uzbek</a>, <a href="/tr/">Turkish</a>, <a href="/th/">Thai</a> and <a href="/id/">Indonesian</a>. </section> <section id="footer-content"> <div id="footer-copyright"> <a 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Installing Express