Beyond npm publish: 7 Ways to Distribute Your CLI Tool

Beyond npm publish: 7 Ways to Distribute Your CLI Tool You built a CLI tool. You ran npm publish . You told people to npm install -g your-tool . And then the support requests started rolling in: "Can I use this without Node?", "Is there a Homebrew formula?", "I just want a binary I can drop in my PATH." After publishing and maintaining over 30 CLI tools — from websnap-reader (a headless screenshot utility) to ghbounty (a GitHub bounty scanner) to devpitch (an article pitch generator) — I learned that npm publish is just the starting line. The real challenge is getting your tool into users' hands in a way that matches how they actually work. This guide covers seven distribution methods for Node.js CLI tools, when each one makes sense, and how to set them up. By the end, you'll have a distribution strategy that meets users where they are, not where you wish they were. 1. npm: The Foundation (But Get the Details Right) Let's start with what you probably already know, but refine it. There