1 ---
2 title: About public packages
3 ---
4
5 As an npm user or organization member, you can create and publish public packages that anyone can download and use in their own projects.
6
7 - **Unscoped** public packages exist in the global public registry namespace and can be referenced in a `package.json` file with the package name alone: `package-name`.
8 - **Scoped** public packages belong to a user or organization and must be preceded by the user or organization name when included as a dependency in a `package.json` file:
9 - `@username/package-name`
10 - `@org-name/package-name`
11
12 ## Next steps
13
14 - "[Creating and publishing scoped public packages][create-scoped-pkg]"
15 - "[Creating and publishing unscoped public packages][create-unscoped-pkg]"
16 - "[Using npm packages in your projects][use-pkg]"
17
18 [create-scoped-pkg]: creating-and-publishing-scoped-public-packages
19 [create-unscoped-pkg]: creating-and-publishing-unscoped-public-packages
20 [use-pkg]: using-npm-packages-in-your-projects