Make npm fetch latest package from Git repo

I tried updating the version number in package.json but it still not update the package. Seems like the only way is to delete the old package each time.

You can manually update a package.

npm update mymod

This will update your package-lock.json with latest hash commit.

UPDATE - 2021 - private package in development and production

In my new project I tried my best to write my code to fit both production and development with a minimum changes, working with my private package was one of the challenges.

I wanted to work locally on my package so all changes would be applied right away without the need to manually update my package every single time like the solution below, but on production I wanted it to install a specific version of the package from my git when I do npm install.

So what I did was to use 2 different dependencies, 1 for production and 1 for development

package.json:

"dependencies": {
  "package-name": "git+ssh://[email protected]:*git package/path*.git#1.0.0",
},
"devDependencies": {
  "package-name-dev": "file:*package path*"
}

Now, after having both of the packages, In development I need to use the dev package every time I'm calling the main package instead of doing lots of if(isDev){...} over all of my files.

I used the module-alias package that allows me to alias a module once, and it will be applied for the whole project.

at the top of app.js:

const isDev  = (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development'),
      isProd = (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production');

if (isDev) {
  const moduleAlias = require('module-alias');

  moduleAlias.addAlias('package-name', 'package-name-dev');
}

And that's it, now, when ever I const pack = require('package-name'), it will require the local package (dev) on development, and the main package on production.

Note - in the main package I used a tag (#1.0.0) at the end of my git URL, I use the same package over multiple of my projects, and I wanted to make sure that I control the version of my package per project, so I can manually test newest version on older projects and nothing will break.

---

ORIGINAL ANSWER - manually update packages

I couldn't find any better way to do this, I ended up adding a script in the package.json that manually install the package I need.

Add a script to the package.json that will update the needed package:

"scripts": {
   "update:packages": "npm install git+ssh://git@GIT_URL_HERE#master"
}

While this is the same as manually updating the package, as @chris said in comments of the other answer, this is a lot easier and can be used with:

npm run update:packages

NOTE - The #master tag at the end will install the master branch, not optimal but it allows you to install the last version of the package without manually changing the tag each time.

Update - if you need this for development and the package in the private repository is something you work on locally (like me), you can simply link the package to the project, all changes will be shown right away without the need of reinstalling it, more info on link:

cd /path/to/working/dir
npm link ../path/to/package/dir

Update 2 If you use Docker, npm link will not work inside the docker, this is because link is setting a soft link to your local npm folder. To avoid this you will need to set the soft link inside the docker.