npm provides several shorthand commands out of the box.
Here's the list
{
'un': 'uninstall',
'rb': 'rebuild',
'list': 'ls',
'ln': 'link',
'create': 'init',
'i': 'install',
'it': 'install-test',
'cit': 'install-ci-test',
'up': 'update',
'c': 'config',
's': 'search',
'se': 'search',
'unstar': 'star',
'tst': 'test',
't': 'test',
'ddp': 'dedupe',
'v': 'view',
'run': 'run-script'
}which also can be found in the source.