When you want to add features to your Node.js project, you often turn to external packages. These packages provide reusable code published by other developers, and you manage them using the Node Package Manager (npm). The most common commands for handling packages are npm install, npm uninstall, and npm update.

To add an external package, you use npm install <package-name>. This downloads the package from the npm registry and adds it to your project's node_modules directory. The dependency is also listed in your package.json file so others know which packages your project needs.

Removing a package is just as simple. Use npm uninstall <package-name>, and npm will delete it from your project and remove its entry from package.json. If you need to update a package to its latest version, run npm update <package-name>. This command checks for newer versions and installs them, keeping your project dependencies current.

npm manages dependencies by maintaining a list in your package.json file. This ensures that everyone working on your project can install the exact packages you use by running npm install. npm also creates a package-lock.json file to record the exact version of each installed package, ensuring consistent installs across different environments.