Protocols

snpm supports various protocols for defining dependencies in your package.json.

Supported Protocols

npm:

The standard protocol for fetching packages from a registry (default or configured).

{
  "dependencies": {
    "react": "npm:^18.2.0",
    "lodash": "^4.17.21" // Implicitly uses npm: protocol
  }
}

file:

Local file system dependencies. Useful for local development or monorepos without workspaces.

{
  "dependencies": {
    "my-lib": "file:../my-lib",
    "local-pkg": "file:/absolute/path/to/pkg"
  }
}

• Paths can be relative (to package.json) or absolute.
• The target directory must contain a valid package.json.

git:

Dependencies from Git repositories.

{
  "dependencies": {
    "my-lib": "git+https://github.com/my-org/my-lib.git",
    "another-lib": "git+ssh://git@github.com:my-org/another-lib.git#v1.0.0"
  }
}

Supported formats:

• git+https://
• git+ssh://
• git://

You can specify a commit hash, tag, or branch using the # fragment.

jsr:

Support for the JSR registry.

{
  "dependencies": {
    "@std/json": "jsr:@std/json^1.0.0"
  }
}

snpm natively handles JSR dependencies, mapping them to the appropriate registry requests.

workspace:

Reference local packages within a monorepo.

{
  "dependencies": {
    "@myorg/utils": "workspace:*",
    "@myorg/ui": "workspace:^"
  }
}

Supported versions:

• workspace:* - Any version (most common)
• workspace:^ - Caret range of the local package version
• workspace:~ - Tilde range of the local package version
• workspace:1.0.0 - Specific version

See the Workspaces documentation for more details.

catalog:

Reference versions defined in snpm-catalog.yaml.

{
  "dependencies": {
    "react": "catalog:",
    "vite": "catalog:build"
  }
}

• catalog: - Use the default catalog
• catalog:<name> - Use a named catalog

See the Catalog documentation for more details.