Introduction

Installing and using Yarn with Node.js can significantly improve your development workflow. Yarn, a fast and secure package manager, offers consistency in managing dependencies across various environments. By configuring Yarn globally and locally within your projects, you ensure a streamlined, error-free development experience. In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps to install Yarn, manage dependencies, and integrate it with version control for maximum efficiency. Whether you’re new to Yarn or looking to refine your setup, this tutorial covers everything you need to get started.

Step 1 — Installing Yarn Globally

Yarn has a unique approach to installation and execution within your JavaScript projects. So, here’s the thing: first, you need to install the yarn command globally on your system. After Yarn is installed globally, you can then use the yarn command to install a specific version of Yarn locally into your project directory. This is important because it makes sure everyone working on the project, including the automated testing and deployment tools, uses the same version of Yarn. Keeping the version consistent prevents any issues or unexpected behavior that could happen if different versions of Yarn are used across the team.

Now, to install Yarn globally, the Yarn maintainers recommend using the NPM package manager, which comes bundled with Node.js by default. The whole process is pretty simple, and it just involves using the -g flag with the npm install command. Here’s the command you’ll need:

$ sudo npm install -g yarn

Once the installation is done, you’ll want to check that Yarn was installed correctly. You can do this by running the following command in your terminal:

$ yarn –version

This should give you an output that tells you which version is installed, like so:

1.22.22

At this point, Yarn is globally installed, and you’re ready to install a specific version of Yarn for any JavaScript project you’re working on. This ensures that your project always uses the right version of Yarn,

Read more about installing package managers and managing project dependencies with Yarn in this detailed guide on Yarn Package Manager Installation.

Step 2 — Installing Yarn in Your Project

You can totally skip this step if you’re already working with a Yarn-based project. It should already have a local version of Yarn set up, along with all the necessary configuration files. But, if you’re starting from scratch with a brand-new project, it’s super important to configure a project-specific version of Yarn to make sure everything runs smoothly across different systems and developers. So, let’s get started.

First, you need to navigate to your project directory. You can do that with this command:

$ cd ~/my-project

If you don’t have a project directory yet, don’t worry. You can easily create one by running:

$ mkdir my-project

$ cd my-project

Now that you’re in the right directory, we can use the yarn set command to choose the version of Yarn that you want to use for your project. For the latest and greatest version, go ahead and set it to “berry” (that’s the most recent version). Just run this command:

$ yarn set version berry

This command will download the latest version of Yarn (Berry) and save it in a .yarn/releases/ directory within your project. It’ll also create or update a .yarnrc.yml file, which Yarn uses to manage the settings and configuration for your project.

Here’s the output you should see after running the command:

Resolving berry to a url…Downloading https://github.com/yarnpkg/berry/raw/master/packages/berry-cli/bin/berry.js…Saving it into /home/sammy/my-project/.yarn/releases/yarn-berry.cjs…Updating /home/sammy/my-project/.yarnrc.yml…Done!

To make sure you’ve got the right version installed, run this command:

$ yarn –version

You should see something like this:

4.5.0

This means you’ve successfully installed the latest version of Yarn (version 3.0.0 or higher). Now, just a heads up—if you wander out of your project directory and run

yarn –version

And that’s it! Your project is now all set up with its own local version of Yarn. This ensures that all the dependencies and tools for the project are handled consistently, no matter where or who is working on it. Next up, we’ll dive into some of the most commonly used Yarn commands to help you manage your project’s dependencies and tasks.

Read more about configuring project-specific versions of Yarn and managing dependencies in your projects with this helpful guide on Yarn Package Manager Guide.

Using Yarn

Yarn has a bunch of subcommands, but when you’re first getting started, there are just a few key ones you really need to know. Let’s dive into these essential subcommands that will help you manage your project without any hassle.

Getting Help

Here’s the thing: whenever you’re using a new tool, it’s really helpful to know how to get help. With Yarn, it’s pretty easy to access the documentation directly from the command line. All you have to do is add the --help flag to any command, and you’ll get instant info about that specific command.

For example, if you want general help about Yarn, you’d run:

$ yarn –help

This will show you a general overview of Yarn’s commands. But, if you need more specific help on a particular subcommand, you can add --help after that subcommand. For example, if you’re curious about how to use the yarn install command, you can run:

$ yarn install –help

This will give you detailed instructions on how to use yarn install and its different options. Pretty handy, right?

Starting a New Yarn Project

If you’re starting a project from scratch, Yarn makes it super easy to create all the necessary project files. The init subcommand is your best friend here. It helps create the Yarn-specific files your project needs to run smoothly. Just run:

$ yarn init

This will create a package.json configuration file and a yarn.lock file in your project folder. The package.json file contains all the important details about your project, like the dependencies you need and other settings. The yarn.lock file is crucial because it locks down the exact versions of each dependency, so everyone working on the project uses the same versions. This helps avoid issues where different team members might accidentally be using different versions of dependencies, which could lead to bugs or mismatched behavior.

Installing all of a Project’s Dependencies

If you’re working on an existing Yarn-based project, you’ll need to install all the necessary dependencies to get started. Thankfully, Yarn makes this process super easy with the install subcommand. Just run this in your project directory:

$ yarn install

Yarn will go ahead and automatically download and install all the dependencies listed in your package.json file. This ensures your project has everything it needs to run properly.

Adding a New Dependency to a Project

As your project grows, you’ll probably need to add new dependencies. Yarn’s add subcommand makes this a breeze. To add a new package to your project, you simply run:

$ yarn add package-name

This command will download the package you need, install it, and then automatically update both the package.json and yarn.lock files to include the new dependency. This helps ensure the new dependency is properly tracked and versioned in your project, so nothing gets lost.

Updating Your .gitignore File for Yarn

When you’re working with Yarn, there are certain files you don’t want to include in version control to keep things tidy and protect sensitive information. Yarn stores various files in a .yarn directory inside your project folder, and some of these files should be ignored by Git. Here’s what a typical .gitignore configuration for a Yarn project looks like:

.gitignore
.yarn/*
!.yarn/patches
!.yarn/plugins
!.yarn/releases
!.yarn/sdks
!.yarn/versions
.pnp.*

This setup tells Git to ignore everything inside the .yarn folder, except for some important folders like patches, plugins, releases, and sdks. It also keeps the .pnp.* files because they’re crucial for Yarn’s Plug’n’Play (PnP) functionality. Using this .gitignore configuration ensures that only the necessary files are tracked by version control, while Yarn-specific files remain safely ignored.

If you want more details on how to configure your .gitignore file, you can always refer to Yarn’s official documentation on Git and Yarn integration.

Read more about effectively using Yarn and managing dependencies in your JavaScript projects with this detailed guide on How to Use Yarn for JavaScript Projects.

Conclusion

In conclusion, installing and using Yarn with Node.js can significantly enhance your development process by offering a faster, more secure, and consistent way to manage project dependencies. With its global and project-specific configurations, Yarn ensures that developers can maintain a seamless experience across different environments. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can easily set up Yarn, integrate it with version control, and start managing your dependencies effectively. As the development community continues to adopt more tools for optimized workflows, staying up to date with Yarn and Node.js will be key to maintaining efficient project management. Embrace the power of Yarn today for smoother, more reliable development projects.

How to Use Yarn for JavaScript Projects