npm

Use for npm registry/account tasks: npm whoami, package availability, package reservation, publish, org checks, and auth debugging.

Auth

• Use one-password first for secret rules.
• Never run op directly in the shell tool.
• Primary item: npm Registry - steipete - Release Automation in Molty.
• Default to OP_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN; no desktop unlock. The item carries the working registry session (registry_token) plus username/password/TOTP fallback.
• Desktop npmjs fallback is explicit only: pass --account my.1password.com when Molty is unavailable and the user wants the fallback. Explicit release/publish requests are consent for its unlock prompt.
• Stop and ask if the item is missing, the account/vault is ambiguous, credentials are malformed, npm denies package access, or the requested package/version does not match the repo release target.
• Run npm auth work inside one task window of the shared op-work tmux session (clawdbot-op.sock; see one-password). Reuse the window on failure; kill it when the npm task is done. Never mint an npm-specific socket or session.
• Keep npm auth in a temp npmrc; delete it after the command.
• All helpers share scripts/npm-auth.sh: stored registry_token session first, then scripts/npm-auth-login.mjs registry login with a fresh six-digit OTP; successful fallback sessions are cached back to the same item. Do not hand-roll field extraction, registry login, or cache writes.
• Installed skill directory symlinks are supported. Shell entrypoints resolve physical siblings; sourced npm-auth.sh owns NPM_AUTH_SCRIPT_DIR without changing the caller's SCRIPT_DIR or working directory. Node helpers also support file symlinks, including --preserve-symlinks-main.
• Credential selection prefers canonical field id, then purpose, then a unique label; duplicate label-only matches are rejected (legacy npmjs may retain same-label fields).
• For ad-hoc authenticated registry commands, use scripts/npm-service.sh -- <npm args...>; use publish-package.sh for a local package.
• npm 11 prompt piping is brittle; avoid printf ... | npm login --auth-type=legacy.
• Avoid expect for npm login unless necessary; logs can echo prompts and are easy to get wrong.
• Prefer the helper's registry API login path (npm-profile loginCouch) for automation.
• If auth shape is ambiguous or npm whoami fails, stop and ask for the exact field label / credential fix. Do not probe more 1Password items or open another tmux window/session.

Package Publishing

From the package root, inside the same auth tmux window:

/Users/steipete/Projects/agent-scripts/skills/npm/scripts/publish-package.sh

The helper verifies identity, refuses an existing package version, publishes with a fresh OTP, retries one expired OTP, verifies registry visibility with the same temporary npmrc (including restricted packages), and cleans auth files.

Package Reservation

Use scripts/reserve-packages.sh from inside the same tmux window:

/Users/steipete/Projects/agent-scripts/skills/npm/scripts/reserve-packages.sh package-one package-two

What it does:

• reads the Molty release-automation item once via op
• reuses the stored registry session or creates one from username/password/TOTP
• publishes 0.0.0 placeholder packages with a generic README
• continues after per-package publish failures
• redacts tokens/OTP in logs
• cleans temp npmrc/work dirs

Notes:

• npm may reject names as too similar to already-published names. Treat that as a registry policy result, not an auth failure.
• npm CLI prompt piping is brittle on npm 11. Prefer the helper’s registry API login path over scripted npm login.
• For scoped packages, npm view can lag/404 even when the package exists. Check npm access get status <pkg>; public or a publish failure saying previously published versions means the name is reserved.

Offline Regression Tests

From the repo root; synthetic fixtures only, no real 1Password/npm auth. Always use an empty environment (the shell mock checks its environment for token leaks):

test_home="$(mktemp -d)"
(
  set -e
  trap 'rm -rf "$test_home"' EXIT
  env -i HOME="$test_home" PATH="$PATH" node --test skills/npm/scripts/*.test.mjs </dev/null
  env -i HOME="$test_home" PATH="$PATH" /bin/bash skills/npm/scripts/npm-auth.test.sh </dev/null
)