GitLab NPM Registry to support npm distribution tags
Problem to solve
We know from a recent round of user research, that users typically navigate to the Package Registry user interface to accomplish one of three tasks:
- To ensure my package was uploaded correctly (22.9%)
- To look up which version of a package I should be using in my environment (21.7%)
- To verify my CI pipeline built the package as expected
In order to verify that their package was uploaded correctly or to look up which version of a package should be used, users would like to use package meta data to identify the correct version of their package. NPM tags can be used to provide an alias instead of version numbers, making it easier to discover packages. For example, a project might choose to have multiple streams of development and use a different tag for each stream, e.g., stable, beta, dev, canary.
Target audience
-
Sasha, Software Developer, https://design.gitlab.com/research/personas#persona-sasha
-
Devon, DevOps Engineer, https://design.gitlab.com/research/personas#persona-devon
Further details
Proposal
Update the NPM Registry to add support for package tags when npm CLI interacts with the backend.
Adds 3 url endpoints to NpmPackages for tags handling.
Packages::Npm::
List all the tags within a given package:
$ npm dist-tag ls @root/bacon
latest: 1.4.0Create a new tag:
$ npm dist-tag add @root/[email protected] tagme
+tagme: @root/[email protected]
$ npm dist-tag ls @root/bacon
latest: 1.4.0
tagme: 1.3.0Use the tag when install the package:
$ npm install @root/[email protected]
npm WARN @root/[email protected] No repository field.
+ @root/[email protected]
updated 1 package in 15.692sRemove the tag:
$ npm dist-tag rm @root/bacon tagme
-tagme: @root/[email protected]
$ npm dist-tag ls @root/bacon
latest: 1.4.0UI
As we've been redesigning the Package Registry, we have included npm tags as part of that design. #12954 (closed) will capture the final design / work.
What does success look like, and how can we measure that?
Tags can be pushed, consumed, and displayed with GitLab.