---
title: npm-rebuild
section: 1
description: Rebuild a package
---

### Synopsis

```bash
npm rebuild [<package-spec>] ...]

alias: rb
```

### Description

This command does the following:

1. Execute lifecycle scripts (`preinstall`, `install`, `postinstall`, `prepare`)
2. Links bins depending on whether bin links are enabled

This command is particularly useful in scenarios including but not limited to:

1. Installing a new version of **node.js**, where you need to recompile all your C++ add-ons with the updated binary.
2. Installing with `--ignore-scripts` and `--no-bin-links`, to explicitly choose which packages to build and/or link bins.

If one or more package specs are provided, then only packages with a name and version matching one of the specifiers will be rebuilt.

Usually, you should not need to run `npm rebuild` as it is already done for you as part of npm install (unless you suppressed these steps with `--ignore-scripts` or `--no-bin-links`).

If there is a `binding.gyp` file in the root of your package, then npm will use a default install hook:

```
"scripts": {
    "install": "node-gyp rebuild"
}
```

This default behavior is suppressed if the `package.json` has its own `install` or `preinstall` scripts.
It is also suppressed if the package specifies `"gypfile": false`

### Configuration

#### `global`

* Default: false
* Type: Boolean

Operates in "global" mode, so that packages are installed into the
`prefix` folder instead of the current working directory. See
[folders](/configuring-npm/folders) for more on the differences in
behavior.

* packages are installed into the `{prefix}/lib/node_modules` folder,
  instead of the current working directory.
* bin files are linked to `{prefix}/bin`
* man pages are linked to `{prefix}/share/man`



#### `bin-links`

* Default: true
* Type: Boolean

Tells npm to create symlinks (or `.cmd` shims on Windows) for package
executables.

Set to false to have it not do this. This can be used to work around
the fact that some file systems don't support symlinks, even on
ostensibly Unix systems.



#### `foreground-scripts`

* Default: `false` unless when using `npm pack` or `npm publish` where
  it defaults to `true`
* Type: Boolean

Run all build scripts (ie, `preinstall`, `install`, and
`postinstall`) scripts for installed packages in the foreground
process, sharing standard input, output, and error with the main npm
process.

Note that this will generally make installs run slower, and be much
noisier, but can be useful for debugging.



#### `ignore-scripts`

* Default: false
* Type: Boolean

If true, npm does not run scripts specified in package.json files.

Note that commands explicitly intended to run a particular script,
such as `npm start`, `npm stop`, `npm restart`, `npm test`, and `npm
run` will still run their intended script if `ignore-scripts` is set,
but they will *not* run any pre- or post-scripts.



#### `workspace`

* Default:
* Type: String (can be set multiple times)

Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces
of the current project while filtering by running only the workspaces
defined by this configuration option.

Valid values for the `workspace` config are either:

* Workspace names
* Path to a workspace directory
* Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all
  workspaces within that folder)

When set for the `npm init` command, this may be set to the folder of
a workspace which does not yet exist, to create the folder and set it
up as a brand new workspace within the project.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

#### `workspaces`

* Default: null
* Type: null or Boolean

Set to true to run the command in the context of **all** configured
workspaces.

Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like `install`
to ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:

- Commands that operate on the `node_modules` tree (install, update,
etc.) will link workspaces into the `node_modules` folder. - Commands
that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the
root project, _unless_ one or more workspaces are specified in the
`workspace` config.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

#### `include-workspace-root`

* Default: false
* Type: Boolean

Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.

When false, specifying individual workspaces via the `workspace`
config, or all workspaces via the `workspaces` flag, will cause npm
to operate only on the specified workspaces, and not on the root
project.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

#### `install-links`

* Default: false
* Type: Boolean

When set file: protocol dependencies will be packed and installed as
regular dependencies instead of creating a symlink. This option has
no effect on workspaces.



### See Also

* [package spec](/using-npm/package-spec)
* [npm install](/commands/npm-install)
