How did I get 111 npm downloads already?

Question

So 2 days ago I published my first npm package
A simple library to trim and join audio files.
https://www.npmjs.com/package/aviatojs\ The weird thing is I already got 111 downloads somehow. I havent shared this package with anyone
Neither have I documented anything. The readme is literally blank.
could this be a mistake??

Most likely there are bots out there that download random packages — Samathingamajig, Jan 23 '22 at 06:48

score 22 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 23 '22 at 06:59

22

Npm’s download stats are native by design: they are simply a count of the number of HTTP 200 responses we served that were tarball files, i.e. packages. This means the number includes:

automated build servers
downloads by mirrors
robots that download every package for analysis

Full answere there: https://blog.npmjs.org/post/92574016600/numeric-precision-matters-how-npm-download-counts-work.html.

answered Jan 23 '22 at 06:59

V.Tur

1,115
9
20

1

i think you meant naive and not native? – Uri Apr 14 '23 at 07:44

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 23 '22 at 06:49

3

This is something which occurs pretty often when you upload packages to npm.

One week ago I also pushed a simple project to npm and it got 1.5k downloads in a week.

I do not think this means that 111 people have downloaded your package, but better be safe than sorry.

You should fill up the readme just to be safe.

answered Jan 23 '22 at 06:49

Lakshya Jain

75
5

1

“You should fill up the readme just to be safe.” What are the dangers of not doing this? – idmean Jan 23 '22 at 06:54
6

@idmean People won't know how to use your library :) – JMK Jul 10 '22 at 18:34

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 02 '22 at 09:36

0

The same happened to me...

I recently uploaded a package react-native-expo-localstorage in npm and within 16 hours I got 107 downloads...

But this doesn't mean 107 real people downloaded the package...

So the count of “downloads” is much larger than the number of people who typed “npm install yourpackage” on any given day.

answered Dec 02 '22 at 09:36

anzeqar

21
4

@Alvin it does answer, I have included that sentence from npm docs. I said "doesn't mean 107 real people downloaded" and it is assumed that the package may be used by... automated build servers, downloads by mirrors, and robots that download every package for analysis. Sometimes people just don't want details... but just an easy-to-understand answer. – anzeqar Dec 07 '22 at 14:36
Fair enough, @anzeqar, but it is necessary to specify it or the answer looks incomplete in the reviewing process – Alvin Dec 07 '22 at 19:27

How did I get 111 npm downloads already?

3 Answers3