package.json

What is package.json?

Every published package has a package.json file. This file makes it easy for others to manage and install the package. It gives information to npm that allows it to identify the package as well as handle the package’s dependencies. Node.js is only aware of two fields: name and version. However, other fields, such as dependencies, and main are vital for a package to be used.

Let’s take a look at the content in the package.json of jsonwebtoken, a popular Node.js package that is used for authentication.