Install a package

  • 3 minutes

You can install any package you have permission to view from GitHub Packages and use the package as a dependency in your project.

You can search for packages globally across all of GitHub or within a particular organization. For details, see Searching for packages.

After you find a package, read the package's installation and description instructions on the package page.

You can install a package using any supported package client following the same general guidelines.

  1. Authenticate to GitHub Packages using the instructions for your package client.
  2. Install the package using the instructions for your package client.

NuGet

To use NuGet packages from GitHub Packages, you must add dependencies to your .csproj file. For more information on using a .csproj file in your project, see "Working with NuGet packages".

If you're using Visual Studio, expand your Solution -> Project -> Right-click on Dependencies -> Manage NuGet Packages...

Screenshot of Visual Studio option for manage NuGet packages.

You can browse, install and update dependencies from multiple registries. For more information, see Create and remove project dependencies.

Screenshot of how to manage NuGet packages, install and update from Visual Studio.

Or, you can update your .csproj file directly.

  1. Authenticate to GitHub Packages.

  2. Add ItemGroup and configure the PackageReference field in the .csproj project file.

    <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

    <PropertyGroup>
        <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
        <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.0</TargetFramework>
        <PackageId>OctocatApp</PackageId>
        <Version>1.0.0</Version>
        <Authors>Octocat</Authors>
        <Company>GitHub</Company>
        <PackageDescription>This package adds an Octocat!</PackageDescription>
        <RepositoryUrl>https://github.com/OWNER/REPOSITORY</RepositoryUrl>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        <PackageReference Include="OctokittenApp" Version="12.0.2" />
    </ItemGroup>
</Project>

    Note

    Replace the OctokittenApp package with your package dependency and 1.0.0 with the version you want to use.

  3. Install the packages with the restore command.

npm

You need to add the .npmrc file to your project to install packages from GitHub Packages.

  1. Authenticate to GitHub Packages.

  2. In the same directory as your package.json file, create or edit a .npmrc file.

  3. Include a line specifying GitHub Packages URL and the account owner.

    @OWNER:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com

    Note

    Replace OWNER with the name of the user or organization account.

  4. Add the .npmrc file to the repository. See "Adding a file to a repository".

  5. Configure package.json in your project to use the package you're installing.

{
    "name": "@my-org/server",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "description": "Server app that uses the @octo-org/octo-app package",
    "main": "index.js",
    "author": "",
    "license": "MIT",
    "dependencies": {
        "@octo-org/octo-app": "1.0.0"
    }
}
  1. Install the package.
  2. (Optional) If you need to install packages from other organizations, you can add extra lines to your .npmrc file.

For more information, see: