nxrm-bower-resolver

Custom Bower resolver for Sonatype Nexus Repository Manager.

This resolver enables full caching of Bower packages through Nexus, similar to how bower-art-resolver works with JFrog Artifactory.

Installation

npm install -g nxrm-bower-resolver

Configuration

Create or update your .bowerrc file:

{
  "registry": {
    "search": ["http://nexus:8081/repository/bower-proxy/api/bower"]
  },
  "resolvers": ["nxrm-bower-resolver"]
}

Replace nexus:8081 with your Nexus server address and bower-proxy with your Bower repository name.

Authentication

Option 1: Environment Variables

export BOWER_NEXUS_USERNAME=myuser
export BOWER_NEXUS_PASSWORD=mypassword
bower install jquery

Option 2: .bowerrc Configuration

{
  "registry": {
    "search": ["http://nexus:8081/repository/bower-proxy/api/bower"]
  },
  "resolvers": ["nxrm-bower-resolver"],
  "nexusUsername": "myuser",
  "nexusPassword": "mypassword"
}

Option 3: URL Authentication

{
  "registry": {
    "search": ["http://myuser:mypassword@nexus:8081/repository/bower-proxy/api/bower"]
  },
  "resolvers": ["nxrm-bower-resolver"]
}

Usage

Once configured, use Bower normally:

# Install a package
bower install jquery

# Install a specific version
bower install jquery#3.6.4

# Install from bower.json
bower install

The resolver will:

1. Query Nexus for available versions
2. Download tarballs from Nexus (caching them for future use)
3. Extract and install the package

How It Works

1. match(source): Determines if this resolver should handle the package (plain package names, not Git URLs)

2. releases(source): Queries Nexus API at /api/bower/packages/{name} to get available versions

3. fetch(endpoint): Downloads tarball from /api/bower/tarballs/{name}/{version}.tar.gz

Nexus Repository Requirements

Your Nexus Repository must have Bower support enabled with the resolver API endpoints:

• GET /api/bower/packages/{name} - List versions
• GET /api/bower/packages/{name}/versions/{version} - Version metadata
• GET /api/bower/tarballs/{name}/{version}.tar.gz - Download tarball

Troubleshooting

Package not found

Ensure the package exists in your Nexus Bower repository. For proxy repositories, the package must first be cached by requesting it through the standard Bower registry endpoint.

Authentication errors

Check that your credentials are correct and have read access to the Bower repository.

Debug logging

Enable Bower debug logging:

bower install jquery --verbose

License

Eclipse Public License 1.0

Copyright

Copyright (c) 2008-present Sonatype, Inc.