Node API

Verdaccio can be started programmatically instead of from the command line, which is what test harnesses and embedded registries usually want.

runServer

runServer(config?: string | ConfigYaml): Promise<http.Server | https.Server>

It resolves with a native Node server that is not listening yet, so you decide the port and when to start it. Whether it is http or https follows the https block of the configuration.

It accepts the configuration in three ways: nothing at all for the defaults, a path to a config file, or the configuration inline.

import { runServer } from 'verdaccio';

// const app = await runServer();
// const app = await runServer('./config/config.yaml');

const app = await runServer({
  storage: './storage',
  auth: { htpasswd: { file: './htpasswd' } },
  uplinks: { npmjs: { url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org/' } },
  packages: {
    '@*/*': { access: '$all', publish: '$authenticated', proxy: 'npmjs' },
    '**': { access: '$all', proxy: 'npmjs' },
  },
  log: { type: 'stdout', format: 'pretty', level: 'http' },
});

app.listen(4000, () => {
  console.log('verdaccio running on http://localhost:4000');
});

On Verdaccio 6 runServer takes a second optional argument, { listenArg }, which overrides the listen entry of the configuration. Verdaccio 7 and newer do not have it — pass the port to listen() instead, as above.

Verdaccio 7 also exports initServer(config, port, version, pkgName), which creates the server and starts it listening. runServer is the one to prefer: it hands you the server so you can shut it down, which is what a test harness needs.

What the package exports

The surface is not the same on every line. Import runServer by name — it is the only thing all three agree on, and the default export means something different on each:

Export	6.x	7.x	9.x
runServer	yes	yes	yes
default	startVerdaccio	runServer	(none)
initServer	no	yes	no
startVerdaccio	yes	no	no
ConfigBuilder, parseConfigFile, getDefaultConfig, Config	yes	yes	no
fileUtils, errorUtils, cryptoUtils, pkgUtils	yes	no	no

Anything the verdaccio package no longer re-exports is still available from the module it came from — @verdaccio/config and @verdaccio/core — so the fix when upgrading is to import from there instead.

The old callback API

Verdaccio 6 still exports an entry point taking six positional arguments and a callback:

// deprecated, Verdaccio 6 only
const startServer = require('verdaccio').default;
startServer(config, 6000, undefined, '1.0.0', 'verdaccio', (webServer, addrs) => {
  webServer.listen(addrs.port || addrs.path, addrs.host);
});

It is gone from Verdaccio 7 onwards. On 7.x the same call silently does something else — default is runServer, which ignores every argument after the first — and on 9.x it throws startServer is not a function, because there is no default export at all. Use runServer instead.