Can we make npm link more ergonomic

[jasonwilliams]

I use both npm link and yarn link, they're great features.
One thing I find frustrating is re-typing out the package name, or having to copy and paste the name from the command line. If you're on the keyboard it breaks your workflow (if copy/paste), or if its a long package name e.g @babel/plugin-transform-typescript then it can be cumbersome to type that out.

Is there something we can do similar to git stash where you can pop the last name you linked?
Or git checkout - where i can go back to previous branch without typing it out.

Workflow of npm link

1. Navigate to @namespace/super-long-package-name
2. yarn link
3. Navigate back to my-app
4. Either type out yarn link @namespace/super-long-package-name` or copy and paste command

Step 4 is cumbersome, are there some ideas that make this easier?
Like (obviously these could clash with package names, but to give you an idea):

1. yarn link -

[MylesBorins]

I guess a challenge I could see with the "pop" model would be that something like that information would be session state, which to the best of my knowledge npm cli doesn't really have.

/cc @npm/cli about how we could go about this.

[isaacs]

So, npm link can take a folder name (or any other package spec) as an argument. How about this?

npm link ../super-long-package-name

or even:

cd /long/path/to/namespace/super/long/package/name/
cd ~/projects/my-app
npm link $(cd -; pwd)  #note: your cd settings may require piping that command to &>/dev/null

Or, if your shell supports it (most bash versions do):

cd /long/path/to/namespace/super/long/package/name/
cd ~/projects/my-app
npm link $OLDPWD

Supporting npm link - to mean "the last thing globally installed" would require tracking new information about the global install space, which we don't currently do, as @MylesBorins said. I'm not opposed to adding that, but it's gonna be more work than these other solutions, which would work today.

[jasonwilliams]

So, npm link can take a folder name (or any other package spec) as an argument. How about this?

npm link ../super-long-package-name

I think this may be sufficient, thanks @isaacs
As you said it could add complication to keep state so using the directory should be good for now. (Happy to close this)