From the nodejs.dev site:
npx allows you to run that npm command without installing it first. If the command isn't found, npx will install it into a central cache:
They use this as an example:
npx cowsay "Hello"
But when I run that:
$ npx cowsay "Hello"
Need to install the following packages:
cowsay
Ok to proceed? (y)
Huh? Is there some preference that I need to set now? I'm used to npx running things without installing them, like they say on nodejs.dev. I don't really want to install cowsay in my globals.
Node v14.17.5
NPM 7.21.0
OS:ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.15.7
Filed as an issue here: https://github.com/nodejs/nodejs.org/issues/4104
You can do following if you are not willing to type 'yes' everytime you install.
npm_config_yes=true npx cowsay "hello"
See this https://github.com/npm/cli/issues/2226
npx also has a --yes flag you can use to bypass the prompt:
npx --yes some-npm-package
This is undocumented if you run npx --help, but the documentation for this flag is hidden in the command's "description" on the NPM website.
There is also a --no flag available if you need to reject the prompt instead.