clean-pkg-json

Only publish necessary package.json properties.

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Example

Given a package.json with dev configs, scripts, and devDependencies:

{
    "name": "my-package",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "description": "A useful package",
    "type": "module",
    "main": "dist/index.js",
    "types": "dist/index.d.ts",
    "files": [
        "dist"
    ],
    "scripts": {
        "build": "pkgroll",
        "lint": "eslint .",
        "test": "vitest",
        "prepack": "clean-pkg-json"
    },
    "dependencies": {
        "lodash": "^4.0.0"
    },
    "devDependencies": {
        "pkgroll": "^2.0.0",
        "vitest": "^1.0.0",
        "clean-pkg-json": "^1.0.0"
    },
    "eslintConfig": {
        "extends": [
            "@pvtnbr"
        ]
    },
    "lint-staged": {
        "*.ts": "eslint --fix"
    },
    "simple-git-hooks": {
        "pre-commit": "npx lint-staged"
    }
}

Running clean-pkg-json produces:

{
    "name": "my-package",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "description": "A useful package",
    "type": "module",
    "main": "dist/index.js",
    "types": "dist/index.d.ts",
    "files": [
        "dist"
    ],
    "dependencies": {
        "lodash": "^4.0.0"
    }
}

How it works

Uses an allowlist to preserve only properties relevant to package consumers, everything else is removed.

For scripts, only install hooks (preinstall, install, postinstall, dependencies) are preserved. All other scripts are removed.

For exports and imports, entries referencing files not included in the published package are pruned. This prevents consumers from resolving to non-existent source files. Conditional entries are partially pruned — only unpublished branches are removed. Pass --published-only=false to disable this behavior.

Install

npm install -D clean-pkg-json

Setup

Add clean-pkg-json to the prepack script, which runs before npm publish and npm pack:

// package.json
{
    "scripts": {
        "prepack": "clean-pkg-json",
    },
}

When invoked via npm pack --dry-run or npm publish --dry-run, clean-pkg-json auto-detects npm's dry-run mode (via the npm_config_dry_run env var) and skips writing to disk.

Flags

| Flag | Description | | - | - | | -k, --keep <property name> | Property names to keep. Accepts multiple flags or a comma-delimited list. | | -r, --remove <property name> | Property names to remove. Accepts multiple flags or a comma-delimited list. | | -v, --verbose | Verbose logs. | | -d, --dry | Dry run — prints the result instead of writing to disk. | | --published-only=false | Disable pruning of unpublished paths in exports and imports. | | -h, --help | Show help | | --version | Show version |

Default preserved properties

npm

• name
• version
• private
• publishConfig
• scripts.preinstall
• scripts.install
• scripts.postinstall
• scripts.dependencies
• files
• bin
• browser
• main
• man
• dependencies
• peerDependencies
• peerDependenciesMeta
• bundledDependencies
• optionalDependencies
• engines
• os
• cpu
• description
• keywords
• author
• maintainers
• contributors
• license
• homepage
• repository
• bugs
• funding

CDNs

• jsdelivr
• unpkg

Node.js

• type
• exports
• imports

VSCode Extension Manifest

• sponsor
• publisher
• displayName
• categories
• galleryBanner
• preview
• contributes
• activationEvents
• badges
• markdown
• qna
• extensionPack
• extensionDependencies
• extensionKind
• icon

Angular Package Format

• fesm2022
• fesm2020
• fesm2015
• esm2020
• es2020

TypeScript

• types
• typings
• typesVersions

Bundlers (Webpack, Rollup, esbuild)

• module
• sideEffects

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