bower
Manage front-end web dependencies
TLDR
Install a project's dependencies, listed in its bower.json
Install one or more packages to the bower_components directory
Uninstall packages locally from the bower_components directory
List local packages and possible updates
Create a bower.json file for your package
Install a specific dependency version, and add it to bower.json
Display help for a specific command
SYNOPSIS
bower <command> [<options>]
PARAMETERS
-h, --help
Display help for command
-v, --version
Output Bower version
-q, --quiet
Suppress status messages
--verbose or -V
Enable verbose logging
--allow-root
Run as root user (insecure)
--config.key=value
Set config like registry or directory
--force
Force latest version on update
--production
Skip dev dependencies
--save
Add to bower.json dependencies
--save-dev
Add to bower.json devDependencies
--save-exact
Save exact version, no ^/~
DESCRIPTION
Bower is a command-line package manager optimized for front-end web development. It enables developers to discover, install, update, and remove client-side libraries such as JavaScript frameworks (e.g., jQuery, React), CSS frameworks (e.g., Bootstrap), and other assets like fonts or images.
Dependencies are declared in a bower.json manifest file, akin to package.json in Node.js projects. Bower resolves dependencies using semantic versioning, fetches packages from registries, Git repos, or URLs, and installs them into a flat bower_components directory to minimize duplication and simplify inclusion via script/link tags.
Key benefits include offline caching, production/dev dependency separation, and easy sharing via bower.json. However, Bower emphasizes a non-nested structure, which contrasts with npm's tree.
Important: Bower is officially deprecated since 2017. Its maintainers advise switching to npm, Yarn, or pnpm combined with bundlers like Webpack or Rollup for superior performance, deduplication, and modern ES modules support.
CAVEATS
Deprecated since 2017; unmaintained. Migrate to npm/Yarn + bundlers for new projects. May fail with modern Git/Node versions.
INSTALLATION
Requires Node.js/npm: npm install -g bower
Verify: bower -v
COMMON WORKFLOW
bower init (create bower.json)
bower install bootstrap --save
bower list (check updates)
bower update
REGISTRY
Default: Bower registry at registry.bower.io. Search: bower search angular
HISTORY
Developed by Twitter in November 2012 (v0.1.0). Hit v1.0 in Feb 2013. Widely adopted for front-end deps until npm improvements. Deprecated Nov 28, 2017, as bundlers made it obsolete.
