grunt-npmcopy

npm for the front-end without the cruft.

• Use npm as your front-end package manager without making node_modules public.
• Position your front-end dependencies where you want them in your repository.
• Conveniently facilitates tracking your front-end dependencies.

Workflow

Whenever you add a new front-end dependency with npm, add which file should be copied and where to your Gruntfile "npmcopy" config. Then, run grunt npmcopy.

Getting Started

This plugin requires Grunt.

If you haven't used Grunt before, be sure to check out the Getting Started guide, as it explains how to create a Gruntfile as well as install and use Grunt plugins. Once you're familiar with that process, you may install this plugin with this command:

npm install grunt-npmcopy --save-dev

Once the plugin has been installed, it may be enabled inside your Gruntfile with this line of JavaScript:

grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-npmcopy');

Note: have a look at load-grunt-tasks so you can skip this step for all your grunt plugins.

The "npmcopy" task

Overview

In your project's Gruntfile, add a section named npmcopy to the data object passed into grunt.initConfig().

grunt.initConfig({
    npmcopy: {
        options: {
            // Task-specific options go here
        },
        your_target: {
            // Target-specific file lists and/or options go here
        }
    }
});

Options

options.srcPrefix

Type: String
Default value: 'node_modules'

srcPrefix will prefix your source locations with the correct folder location.

options.destPrefix

Type: String
Default value: ''

destPrefix will be used as the prefix for destinations.

options.report

Type: Boolean
Default value: false

To help ensure you didn't miss any, report any modules in your package.json that have not been configured to copy at least one file with npmcopy.

options.copyOptions

Type: Object
Default value: {}

Options to pass to grunt.file.copy when copying the files. See grunt.file.copy

Usage Examples

grunt.initConfig({
    npmcopy: {
        // Anything can be copied
        test: {
            options: {
                destPrefix: 'test/js'
            },
            files: {
                // Keys are destinations (prefixed with `options.destPrefix`)
                // Values are sources (prefixed with `options.srcPrefix`); One source per destination
                // e.g. 'node_modules/chai/lib/chai.js' will be copied to 'test/js/libs/chai.js'
                'libs/chai.js': 'chai/lib/chai.js',
                'mocha/mocha.js': 'libs/mocha/mocha.js',
                'mocha/mocha.css': 'libs/mocha/mocha.css'
            }
        },
        // Javascript
        libs: {
            options: {
                destPrefix: 'public/js/libs'
            },
            files: {
                'jquery.js': 'jquery/jquery.js',
                'require.js': 'requirejs/require.js'
            },
        },
        plugins: {
            options: {
                destPrefix: 'public/js/plugins'
            },
            files: {
                // Make dependencies follow your naming conventions
                'jquery.chosen.js': 'chosen/public/chosen.js'
            }
        },
        // Less
        less: {
            options: {
                destPrefix: 'less'
            },
            files: {
                // If either the src or the dest is not present,
                // the specified location will be used for both.
                // In other words, this will copy
                // 'npm_components/bootstrap/less/dropdowns.less' to 'less/bootstrap/less/dropdowns.less'
                // See http://gruntjs.com/configuring-tasks#files for recommended files formats
                src: 'bootstrap/less/dropdowns.less'
            }
        },
        // Images
        images: {
            options: {
                destPrefix: 'public/images'
            },
            files: {
                'account/chosen-sprite.png': 'chosen/public/chosen-sprite.png',
                'account/chosen-sprite@2x.png': 'chosen/public/chosen-sprite@2x.png'
            }
        },
        // Entire folders
        folders: {
            files: {
                // Note: when copying folders, the destination (key) will be used as the location for the folder
                'public/js/libs/lodash': 'lodash',
                // The destination can also be a folder
                // Note: if the basename of the location does not have a period('.'),
                // it is assumed that you'd like a folder to be created if none exists
                // and the source filename will be used
                'public/js/libs': 'lodash/dist/lodash.js'
            }
        },
        // Glob patterns
        glob: {
            files: {
                // When using glob patterns, destinations are *always* folder names
                // into which matching files will be copied
                // Also note that subdirectories are **not** maintained
                // if a destination is specified
                // For example, one of the files copied here is
                // 'lodash/dist/lodash.js' -> 'public/js/libs/lodash/lodash.js'
                'public/js/libs/lodash': 'lodash/dist/*.js'
            }
        },
        // Glob without destination
        globSrc: {
            options: {
                destPrefix: 'public/js/libs'
            },
            // By not specifying a destination, you are denoting
            // that the lodash directory structure should be maintained
            // when copying.
            // For example, one of the files copied here is
            // 'lodash/dist/lodash.js' -> 'public/js/libs/lodash/dist/lodash.js'
            src: 'lodash/**/*.js'
        },
        // Main pragma
        // Adding :main to the end of a source path will retrieve the main file(s) for that package
        // If the main property is not specified by a package, npmcopy will fail
        main: {
            src: 'jquery.minlight:main',
            dest: 'public/js/plugins/'
        }
    }
});

Contributing

Follow the same coding style present in the repo and add tests for any bug fix or feature addition.

See the CONTRIBUTING.md for more info.

Release History

• 0.1.0 (6-23-2014) First Release

License

Copyright (c) 2014 Timmy Willison. Licensed under the MIT license.