---
title: How to publish a Node-API package
layout: learn
---

# How to publish a Node-API version of a package alongside a non-Node-API version

The following steps are illustrated using the package `iotivity-node`:

- First, publish the non-Node-API version:
  - Update the version in `package.json`. For `iotivity-node`, the version
    becomes `1.2.0-2`.
  - Go through the release checklist (ensure tests/demos/docs are OK)
  - `npm publish`
- Then, publish the Node-API version:
  - Update the version in `package.json`. In the case of `iotivity-node`,
    the version becomes `1.2.0-3`. For versioning, we recommend following
    the pre-release version scheme as described by
    [semver.org](https://semver.org/#spec-item-9) e.g. `1.2.0-napi`.
  - Go through the release checklist (ensure tests/demos/docs are OK)
  - `npm publish --tag n-api`

In this example, tagging the release with `n-api` has ensured that, although
version 1.2.0-3 is later than the non-Node-API published version (1.2.0-2), it
will not be installed if someone chooses to install `iotivity-node` by simply
running `npm install iotivity-node`. This will install the non-Node-API version
by default. The user will have to run `npm install iotivity-node@n-api` to
receive the Node-API version. For more information on using tags with npm check
out ["Using dist-tags"][].

## How to introduce a dependency on a Node-API version of a package

To add the Node-API version of `iotivity-node` as a dependency, the `package.json`
will look like this:

```json
"dependencies": {
  "iotivity-node": "n-api"
}
```

> As explained in
> ["Using dist-tags"][], unlike regular versions, tagged versions cannot be
> addressed by version ranges such as `"^2.0.0"` inside `package.json`. The
> reason for this is that the tag refers to exactly one version. So, if the
> package maintainer chooses to tag a later version of the package using the
> same tag, `npm update` will receive the later version. This should be acceptable
> version other than the latest published, the `package.json` dependency will
> have to refer to the exact version like the following:

```json
"dependencies": {
  "iotivity-node": "1.2.0-3"
}
```

["Using dist-tags"]: https://docs.npmjs.com/getting-started/using-tags