deno install

deno install installs dependencies and caches them for your project. For more on how Deno handles modules, see Modules and dependencies.

Examples

deno install

Use this command to install all dependencies defined in deno.json and/or package.json.

The dependencies will be installed in the global cache, but if your project has a package.json file, a local node_modules directory will be set up as well.

deno install [PACKAGES]

Use this command to install particular packages and add them to deno.json or package.json.

deno install jsr:@std/testing npm:express

If your project has a package.json file, the packages coming from npm will be added to dependencies in package.json. Otherwise all packages will be added to deno.json.

deno install --os and --arch

Starting in Deno 2.8, deno install accepts --os and --arch flags so you can install npm packages targeting a different platform than the one you're running on. This is most useful for pre-installing packages with native binaries — for example, building a deployment artifact on a macOS dev machine that will eventually run on Linux/arm64.

The flags accept Node.js-compatible values, the same strings that process.platform and process.arch produce.

# Install npm packages for linux/arm64
deno install --os linux --arch arm64

# Install for windows/x64
deno install --os win32 --arch x64

# Override just the architecture; --os defaults to the current system
deno install --arch x64

--os and --arch are local-install-only and conflict with --global.

deno install --package-json

By default, Deno picks the configuration file to write to (deno.json or package.json) based on which one is closest to the current working directory. Starting in Deno 2.8, --package-json forces dependencies to be written to package.json, regardless of any nearby deno.json. If no package.json exists yet, one is created.

deno install --package-json npm:express jsr:@std/path

JSR packages added with --package-json are written in their npm-compatible form (npm:@jsr/...). The same flag works on deno add, deno remove, and deno uninstall.

To make this behavior the default without passing the flag every time, set "preferPackageJson": true in deno.json.

deno install --entrypoint [FILES]

Use this command to install all dependencies that are used in the provided files and their dependencies.

This is particularly useful if you use jsr:, npm:, http: or https: specifiers in your code and want to cache all the dependencies before deploying your project.

import * as colors from "jsr:@std/fmt/colors";
import express from "npm:express";

deno install -e main.js
Download jsr:@std/fmt
Download npm:express

deno install --global [PACKAGE_OR_URL]

Use this command to install the provided package or script as a globally available binary on your system.

This command creates a thin, executable shell script which invokes deno using the specified CLI flags and main module. It is placed in the installation root.

Example:

deno install --global --allow-net --allow-read jsr:@std/http/file-server
Download jsr:@std/http/file-server...

✅ Successfully installed file-server.
/Users/deno/.deno/bin/file-server

To change the executable name, use -n/--name:

deno install -g -N -R -n serve jsr:@std/http/file-server

The executable name is inferred by default:

• Attempt to take the file stem of the URL path. The above example would become 'file-server'.
• If the file stem is something generic like 'main', 'mod', 'index' or 'cli', and the path has no parent, take the file name of the parent path. Otherwise settle with the generic name.
• If the resulting name has an '@...' suffix, strip it.

To change the installation root, use --root:

deno install -g -N -R --root /usr/local/bin jsr:@std/http/file-server

The installation root is determined, in order of precedence:

• --root option
• DENO_INSTALL_ROOT environment variable
• $HOME/.deno

Executables are placed in the bin subdirectory of the installation root, unless the root path already ends with bin, in which case it is used directly. The resulting directory must be added to the path manually if required.

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.deno/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

You must specify permissions that will be used to run the script at installation time.

deno install -g -N -R jsr:@std/http/file-server -- -p 8080

The above command creates an executable called file_server that runs with network and read permissions and binds to port 8080.

For good practice, use the import.meta.main idiom to specify the entry point in an executable script.

Example:

// https://example.com/awesome/cli.ts
async function myAwesomeCli(): Promise<void> {
  // -- snip --
}

if (import.meta.main) {
  myAwesomeCli();
}

When you create an executable script make sure to let users know by adding an example installation command to your repository:

# Install using deno install

deno install -n awesome_cli https://example.com/awesome/cli.ts

deno install --global --compile [PACKAGE_OR_URL]

Use this command to compile a package or script into a standalone, self-contained binary. The resulting executable can be distributed and run without requiring Deno to be installed on the target system.

deno install --global --compile -A npm:@anthropic-ai/claude-code

This combines the behavior of deno compile with global installation — producing a native binary placed in the installation root (same as --global without --compile).

deno install --prod

Use this command to install only production dependencies, skipping devDependencies from package.json.

deno install --prod

This is useful when deploying an application where development dependencies like test frameworks or build tools are not needed.

The --prod flag conflicts with --global and --dev.

In CI environments, prefer deno ci --prod, which also enforces a frozen lockfile and removes any pre-existing node_modules before installing.

--skip-types

When combined with --prod, the --skip-types flag additionally skips @types/* packages from both package.json dependencies and deno.json imports:

deno install --prod --skip-types

--prod with --entrypoint

When --prod is combined with --entrypoint, the module graph is built as "code only", which excludes type-only dependencies:

deno install --prod --entrypoint main.ts

This provides the most precise production install — only dependencies that are actually imported at runtime by the specified entrypoint (and its transitive imports) will be installed.

Native Node.js addons

A lot of popular npm packages like npm:sqlite3 or npm:duckdb depend on "lifecycle scripts", eg. preinstall or postinstall scripts. Most often running these scripts is required for a package to work correctly.

Unlike npm, Deno does not run these scripts by default as they pose a potential security vulnerability.

You can still run these scripts by passing the --allow-scripts=<packages> flag when running deno install:

deno install --allow-scripts=npm:sqlite3

Install all dependencies and allow npm:sqlite3 package to run its lifecycle scripts.

--quiet flag

The --quiet flag suppresses diagnostic output when installing dependencies. When used with deno install, it will hide progress indicators, download information, and success messages.

deno install --quiet jsr:@std/http/file-server

This is useful for scripting environments or when you want cleaner output in CI pipelines.

Uninstall

You can uninstall dependencies or binary script with deno uninstall command:

deno uninstall express
Removed express

deno uninstall -g file-server
deleted /Users/deno/.deno/bin/file-server
✅ Successfully uninstalled file-server

See deno uninstall page for more details.

deno install [OPTIONS] [cmd]... [-- [SCRIPT_ARG]...]

deno install

deno install express

deno install jsr:@std/bytes

deno install --entrypoint entry1.ts entry2.ts

deno install --global --allow-net --allow-read jsr:@std/http/file-server

deno install -g https://examples.deno.land/color-logging.ts

deno install -g --allow-net --allow-read -n serve jsr:@std/http/file-server

deno install -g --allow-net --allow-read --root /usr/local jsr:@std/http/file-server