# Installation

## Distribution channels

### NPM Registry

We publish two modules to npm: **`swagger-ui`** and **`swagger-ui-dist`**.

**`swagger-ui`** is meant for consumption by JavaScript web projects that include module bundlers, such as Webpack, Browserify, and Rollup. Its main file exports Swagger UI's main function, and the module also includes a namespaced stylesheet at `swagger-ui/dist/swagger-ui.css`. Here's an example:

```javascript
import SwaggerUI from 'swagger-ui'
// or use require, if you prefer
const SwaggerUI = require('swagger-ui')

SwaggerUI({
  dom_id: '#myDomId'
})
```

In contrast, **`swagger-ui-dist`** is meant for server-side projects that need assets to serve to clients. The module, when imported, includes an `absolutePath` helper function that returns the absolute filesystem path to where the `swagger-ui-dist` module is installed.

_Note: we suggest using `swagger-ui` when your tooling makes it possible, as `swagger-ui-dist`
will result in more code going across the wire._

The module's contents mirrors the `dist` folder you see in the Git repository. The most useful file is `swagger-ui-bundle.js`, which is a build of Swagger UI that includes all the code it needs to run in one file. The folder also has an `index.html` asset, to make it easy to serve Swagger UI like so:

```javascript
const express = require('express')
const pathToSwaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-dist').absolutePath()

const app = express()

app.use(express.static(pathToSwaggerUi))

app.listen(3000)
```

The module also exports `SwaggerUIBundle` and `SwaggerUIStandalonePreset`, so
if you're in a JavaScript project that can't handle a traditional npm module,
you could do something like this:

```js
var SwaggerUIBundle = require('swagger-ui-dist').SwaggerUIBundle

const ui = SwaggerUIBundle({
    url: "https://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.json",
    dom_id: '#swagger-ui',
    presets: [
      SwaggerUIBundle.presets.apis,
      SwaggerUIBundle.SwaggerUIStandalonePreset
    ],
    layout: "StandaloneLayout"
  })
```

`SwaggerUIBundle` is equivalent to `SwaggerUI`.

### Docker

You can pull a pre-built docker image of the swagger-ui directly from Docker Hub:

```
docker pull swaggerapi/swagger-ui
docker run -p 80:8080 swaggerapi/swagger-ui
```

Will start nginx with Swagger UI on port 80.

Or you can provide your own swagger.json on your host

```
docker run -p 80:8080 -e SWAGGER_JSON=/foo/swagger.json -v /bar:/foo swaggerapi/swagger-ui
```

The base URL of the web application can be changed by specifying the `BASE_URL` environment variable:

```
docker run -p 80:8080 -e BASE_URL=/swagger -e SWAGGER_JSON=/foo/swagger.json -v /bar:/foo swaggerapi/swagger-ui
```

This will serve Swagger UI at `/swagger` instead of `/`.

For more information on controlling Swagger UI through the Docker image, see the Docker section of the [Configuration documentation](configuration.md#docker).

### unpkg 

You can embed Swagger UI's code directly in your HTML by using unpkg's interface:

```html
<script src="https://unpkg.com/swagger-ui-dist@3/swagger-ui-bundle.js"></script>
<!-- `SwaggerUIBundle` is now available on the page -->
```

See [unpkg's main page](https://unpkg.com/) for more information on how to use unpkg.

### Static files without HTTP or HTML

Once swagger-ui has successfully generated the `/dist` directory, you can copy this to your own file system and host from there. 