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1---
2title: How to publish a Node-API package
3layout: learn
4---
5
6# How to publish a Node-API version of a package alongside a non-Node-API version
7
8The following steps are illustrated using the package `iotivity-node`:
9
10- First, publish the non-Node-API version:
11 - Update the version in `package.json`. For `iotivity-node`, the version
12 becomes `1.2.0-2`.
13 - Go through the release checklist (ensure tests/demos/docs are OK)
14 - `npm publish`
15- Then, publish the Node-API version:
16 - Update the version in `package.json`. In the case of `iotivity-node`,
17 the version becomes `1.2.0-3`. For versioning, we recommend following
18 the pre-release version scheme as described by
19 [semver.org](https://semver.org/#spec-item-9) e.g. `1.2.0-napi`.
20 - Go through the release checklist (ensure tests/demos/docs are OK)
21 - `npm publish --tag n-api`
22
23In this example, tagging the release with `n-api` has ensured that, although
24version 1.2.0-3 is later than the non-Node-API published version (1.2.0-2), it
25will not be installed if someone chooses to install `iotivity-node` by simply
26running `npm install iotivity-node`. This will install the non-Node-API version
27by default. The user will have to run `npm install iotivity-node@n-api` to
28receive the Node-API version. For more information on using tags with npm check
29out ["Using dist-tags"][].
30
31## How to introduce a dependency on a Node-API version of a package
32
33To add the Node-API version of `iotivity-node` as a dependency, the `package.json`
34will look like this:
35
36```json
37"dependencies": {
38 "iotivity-node": "n-api"
39}
40```
41
42> As explained in
43> ["Using dist-tags"][], unlike regular versions, tagged versions cannot be
44> addressed by version ranges such as `"^2.0.0"` inside `package.json`. The
45> reason for this is that the tag refers to exactly one version. So, if the
46> package maintainer chooses to tag a later version of the package using the
47> same tag, `npm update` will receive the later version. This should be acceptable
48> version other than the latest published, the `package.json` dependency will
49> have to refer to the exact version like the following:
50
51```json
52"dependencies": {
53 "iotivity-node": "1.2.0-3"
54}
55```
56
57["Using dist-tags"]: https://docs.npmjs.com/getting-started/using-tags