What is the purpose of .bin folder in node_modules?

node.js bower
Cremix_hellven picture Cremix_hellven · Aug 14, 2014 · Viewed 16.1k times · Source

Today one colleague explained me how to create nodejs projects and I notice that in ./node_modules there is an invisible folder named .bin. I must said that I discovered this after adding to the project "bootcamp" and "bower" tools. What's .bin purpose? What is it created for?

Answer

alandarev picture alandarev · Aug 14, 2014

That is a folder where binaries (executables) from your node modules are located.

NPM site states:

Executables When in global mode, executables are linked into {prefix}/bin on Unix, or directly into {prefix} on Windows.

When in local mode, executables are linked into ./node_modules/.bin so that they can be made available to scripts run through npm. (For example, so that a test runner will be in the path when you run npm test.)

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