npm

Use for npm registry/account tasks: npm whoami, package availability, package reservation, publish, org checks, and auth debugging.

Auth

Use one-password first for secret rules.
Never run op directly in the shell tool.
Primary item: npm Registry - steipete - Release Automation in Molty.
Default to OP_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN; no desktop unlock. The item carries the working registry session (registry_token) plus username/password/TOTP fallback.
Desktop npmjs fallback is explicit only: pass --account my.1password.com when Molty is unavailable and the user wants the fallback. Explicit release/publish requests are consent for its unlock prompt.
Stop and ask if the item is missing, the account/vault is ambiguous, credentials are malformed, npm denies package access, or the requested package/version does not match the repo release target.
Run npm auth work inside one task window of the shared op-work tmux session (clawdbot-op.sock; see one-password). Reuse the window on failure; kill it when the npm task is done. Never mint an npm-specific socket or session.
Keep npm auth in a temp npmrc; delete it after the command.
All helpers share scripts/npm-auth.sh: stored registry_token session first, then scripts/npm-auth-login.mjs registry login with a fresh six-digit OTP; successful fallback sessions are cached back to the same item. Do not hand-roll field extraction, registry login, or cache writes.
Installed skill directory symlinks are supported. Shell entrypoints resolve physical siblings; sourced npm-auth.sh owns NPM_AUTH_SCRIPT_DIR without changing the caller's SCRIPT_DIR or working directory. Node helpers also support file symlinks, including --preserve-symlinks-main.
Credential selection prefers canonical field id, then purpose, then a unique label; duplicate label-only matches are rejected (legacy npmjs may retain same-label fields).
For ad-hoc authenticated registry commands, use scripts/npm-service.sh -- <npm args...>; use publish-package.sh for a local package.
npm 11 prompt piping is brittle; avoid printf ... | npm login --auth-type=legacy.
Avoid expect for npm login unless necessary; logs can echo prompts and are easy to get wrong.
Prefer the helper's registry API login path (npm-profile loginCouch) for automation.
If auth shape is ambiguous or npm whoami fails, stop and ask for the exact field label / credential fix. Do not probe more 1Password items or open another tmux window/session.

Package Publishing

From the package root, inside the same auth tmux window:

/Users/steipete/Projects/agent-scripts/skills/npm/scripts/publish-package.sh

The helper verifies identity, refuses an existing package version, publishes with a fresh OTP, retries one expired OTP, verifies registry visibility, and cleans auth files.

Package Reservation

Use scripts/reserve-packages.sh from inside the same tmux window:

/Users/steipete/Projects/agent-scripts/skills/npm/scripts/reserve-packages.sh package-one package-two

What it does:

reads the Molty release-automation item once via op
reuses the stored registry session or creates one from username/password/TOTP
publishes 0.0.0 placeholder packages with a generic README
continues after per-package publish failures
redacts tokens/OTP in logs
cleans temp npmrc/work dirs

Notes:

npm may reject names as too similar to already-published names. Treat that as a registry policy result, not an auth failure.
npm CLI prompt piping is brittle on npm 11. Prefer the helper’s registry API login path over scripted npm login.
For scoped packages, npm view can lag/404 even when the package exists. Check npm access get status <pkg>; public or a publish failure saying previously published versions means the name is reserved.

Offline Regression Tests

From the repo root; synthetic fixtures only, no real 1Password/npm auth. Always use an empty environment (the shell mock checks its environment for token leaks):

test_home="$(mktemp -d)"
(
  set -e
  trap 'rm -rf "$test_home"' EXIT
  env -i HOME="$test_home" PATH="$PATH" node --test skills/npm/scripts/*.test.mjs </dev/null
  env -i HOME="$test_home" PATH="$PATH" /bin/bash skills/npm/scripts/npm-auth.test.sh </dev/null
)