@anolilab/semantic-release-clean-package-json NPM

Why?

When publishing packages to npm, many properties in package.json are only needed during development and build time, but not in the published package. This plugin automatically removes unnecessary properties while preserving essential ones needed for the package to work correctly in production.

Key benefits:

Reduces package size by removing development-only properties
Prevents leaking internal configuration and metadata
Maintains a clean and focused package.json for end users
Customizable property preservation through configuration

Install

npm install @anolilab/semantic-release-clean-package-json

yarn add @anolilab/semantic-release-clean-package-json

pnpm add @anolilab/semantic-release-clean-package-json

Usage

The plugin can be configured in the semantic-release configuration file:

!IMPORTANT Very important: The plugin must be placed before the @semantic-release/github or @semantic-release/git and before @anolilab/semantic-release-pnpm or @semantic-release/npm plugin otherwise the package.json will be cleaned and published into GitHub / Your Git Provider.

{
    "plugins": [
        "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer",
        "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator",
        "@anolilab/semantic-release-clean-package-json",
        "@anolilab/semantic-release-pnpm",
        "@semantic-release/github"
    ]
}

Steps that are used

Step	Description
`publish`	- Creates a backup of the original package.json file- Removes all non-preserved properties from package.json- Keeps properties specified in the default list and custom `keep` option- Preserves specific npm scripts if they are in the keep list- Writes the cleaned package.json file
`success`	- Restores the original package.json from backup- Updates the version number to match the released version- Removes the backup file- Logs success or error messages

Options

Options	Description	Default
`pkgRoot`	Directory path to publish.	`.`
`keep`	Property names to keep.	`[]`

Note: The pkgRoot directory must contain a package.json. The version will be updated only in the package.json and npm-shrinkwrap.json within the pkgRoot directory.

Note: If you use a shareable configuration that defines one of these options you can set it to false in your semantic-release configuration in order to use the default value.

Examples

The plugin can be configured with custom properties to keep in addition to the default preserved ones:

{
    "plugins": [
        "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer",
        "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator",
        [
            "@anolilab/semantic-release-clean-package-json",
            {
                "keep": ["custom field"]
            }
        ],
        "@anolilab/semantic-release-pnpm",
        "@semantic-release/github"
    ]
}

Example: Publishing a TypeScript Package

When publishing a TypeScript package, you might want to keep TypeScript-specific fields:

{
    "plugins": [
        "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer",
        "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator",
        [
            "@anolilab/semantic-release-clean-package-json",
            {
                // This are the default values, just a example
                "keep": ["types", "typings", "typesVersions", "module"],
            },
        ],
        "@anolilab/semantic-release-pnpm",
        "@semantic-release/github",
    ],
}

Example: Custom Package Root

If your package.json is not in the root directory:

{
    "plugins": [
        "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer",
        "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator",
        "@semantic-release/github",
        [
            "@anolilab/semantic-release-clean-package-json",
            {
                "pkgRoot": "dist"
            }
        ],
        "@anolilab/semantic-release-pnpm"
    ]
}

Default preserved properties

By default, these properties are preserved in package.json:

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
contributors
license
homepage
repository
bugs
funding

CDNs

Node.js

type
exports
imports

VSCode Extension Manifest

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

Angular Package Format

fesm2020
fesm2015
esm2020
es2020

TypeScript

types
typings
typesVersions

Bundlers (Webpack, Rollup, esbuild)

Supported Node.js Versions

Libraries in this ecosystem make the best effort to track Node.js’ release schedule. Here’s a post on why we think this is important.

Contributing

If you would like to help take a look at the list of issues and check our Contributing guidelines.

Note: please note that this project is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.