verdaccio/docs/what-is-verdaccio.md

---
id: what-is-verdaccio
title: "What is Verdaccio?"
---

Verdaccio is a **lightweight private npm proxy registry** built in **Node.js**

## What's a registry

* A repository for packages that implements the **CommonJS Compliant Package Registry specification** for reading package info
* Provide an API compatible with npm clients **(yarn/npm/pnpm)**
* Follow the semantic Versioning compatible **(semver)**

```
$> verdaccio
```

![registry](/svg/verdaccio_server.gif)

## Using Verdaccio

Using verdaccio with any node package manager client is quite straightforward.

![registry](/svg/npm_install.gif)

You can use a custom registry either setting globally for all your projects

```
npm set registry http://localhost:4873
```

or by command line as argument `--registry` in npm (slightly different in yarn)

```
npm install lodash --registry http://localhost:4873
```

## Private

All packages that you publish are private and only accessible based in your configuration.

## Proxy

Verdaccio cache all dependencies by demand and speed up installations in local or private networks.

## Verdaccio in a nutshell

* It's a web app based on Node.js
* It's a private npm registry
* It's a local network proxy
* It's a Pluggable application
* It's a fairly easy install and use
* We offer Docker and Kubernetes support
* It is 100% compatible with yarn, npm and pnpm
* It was **forked** based on `sinopia@1.4.0` and 100% **backward compatible**.
* Verdaccio means **A green color popular in late medieval Italy for fresco painting**.