Yes, Paul. npx ... always pulls the package off the registry and makes sure you always use the latest version of the package which could have fixed bugs and security vulnerabilities. So, yes, it is advisable.

Really great writeup friend. I should point out that the npx ... command will still run without the initial npm -g ... installation. npx pulls the package and runs the command without installing it globally.

I think it's a pretty good direction. It's not exactly punishment, it's just regulation. Left unchecked, these companies would get too powerful and become a monopoly. Take Google for example, from Android to Gmail to Chrome to Maps. They are starting to own a very large share of access to most parts of our lives. Microsoft's decided to use Chromium in their browser now. The major browsers out there are Chrome and Firefox(sorry, Safari). How easy would you think it is for Chrome to just start rolling out standards they want developers to comply with? Very easy, I'd say. It just isn't healthy, for everyone.

Using dotenv worked just fine for me. Thanks very much for the help.

That's quite a list of extensions.

I use Wappalyzer to know what technologies are running on any page. Node, Vue, Bootstrap, Font Awesome, whatever. Wappalyzer: https://wappalyzer.com I use Pocket to save articles and web pages to read later on. There's an extension and a Chrome app. The Chrome app downloads the saved articles and pages for offline read. Pocket: https://getpocket.com