diff --git a/.VERSION b/.VERSION
index 97d8b700b9e..93cc76c725e 100644
--- a/.VERSION
+++ b/.VERSION
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-refs=$Format:%D$
-commit=$Format:%H$
-abbrev_commit=$Format:%h$
-committer_date=$Format:%cs$
-git_describe=$Format:%(describe)$
+refs=HEAD -> develop
+commit=ea42c1d09d38444c6206a245d67ca3d99930c9b0
+abbrev_commit=ea42c1d09d3
+committer_date=2026-05-26
+git_describe=v33.0.0rc1-4-gea42c1d09d3
diff --git a/src/packagedcode/__init__.py b/src/packagedcode/__init__.py
index fc1e490eeff..48977f5ef56 100644
--- a/src/packagedcode/__init__.py
+++ b/src/packagedcode/__init__.py
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@
     npm.PnpmShrinkwrapYamlHandler,
     npm.PnpmLockYamlHandler,
     npm.PnpmWorkspaceYamlHandler,
+    npm.NpmrcHandler,
 
     nuget.NugetNupkgHandler,
     nuget.NugetNuspecHandler,
diff --git a/src/packagedcode/npm.py b/src/packagedcode/npm.py
index 7618e830c19..c8fd06989a7 100644
--- a/src/packagedcode/npm.py
+++ b/src/packagedcode/npm.py
@@ -2023,3 +2023,38 @@ def keywords_mapper(keywords, package):
 
     package.keywords = keywords
     return package
+
+
+class NpmrcHandler(models.NonAssemblableDatafileHandler):
+    datasource_id = 'npmrc'
+    path_patterns = (
+        '*/.npmrc',
+    )
+    default_package_type = 'npm'
+    default_primary_language = 'JavaScript'
+    description = 'npmrc configuration file'
+    documentation_url = 'https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v9/configuring-npm/npmrc'
+
+    @classmethod
+    def parse(cls, location, package_only=False):
+        """
+        Parses an .npmrc file and yields package data.
+        """
+        extra_data = {}
+        with io.open(location, encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            for line in f:
+                stripped = line.strip()
+                if not stripped or stripped.startswith('#') or stripped.startswith(';'):
+                    continue
+                if '=' in stripped:
+                    key, _, value = stripped.partition('=')
+                    extra_data[key.strip()] = value.strip()
+
+        package_data = dict(
+            datasource_id=cls.datasource_id,
+            type=cls.default_package_type,
+            primary_language=cls.default_primary_language,
+            extra_data=extra_data,
+        )
+        yield models.PackageData.from_data(package_data, package_only)
+
diff --git a/tests/packagedcode/data/npm/npmrc/.npmrc b/tests/packagedcode/data/npm/npmrc/.npmrc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..12be2b325e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/packagedcode/data/npm/npmrc/.npmrc
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# this is a comment
+; another comment
+
+registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/
+@my-scope:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com
+always-auth=true
diff --git a/tests/packagedcode/data/npm/npmrc/.npmrc-expected.json b/tests/packagedcode/data/npm/npmrc/.npmrc-expected.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4b0a3988185
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/packagedcode/data/npm/npmrc/.npmrc-expected.json
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+[
+  {
+    "type": "npm",
+    "namespace": null,
+    "name": null,
+    "version": null,
+    "qualifiers": {},
+    "subpath": null,
+    "primary_language": "JavaScript",
+    "description": null,
+    "release_date": null,
+    "parties": [],
+    "keywords": [],
+    "homepage_url": null,
+    "download_url": null,
+    "size": null,
+    "sha1": null,
+    "md5": null,
+    "sha256": null,
+    "sha512": null,
+    "bug_tracking_url": null,
+    "code_view_url": null,
+    "vcs_url": null,
+    "copyright": null,
+    "holder": null,
+    "declared_license_expression": null,
+    "declared_license_expression_spdx": null,
+    "license_detections": [],
+    "other_license_expression": null,
+    "other_license_expression_spdx": null,
+    "other_license_detections": [],
+    "extracted_license_statement": null,
+    "notice_text": null,
+    "source_packages": [],
+    "file_references": [],
+    "is_private": false,
+    "is_virtual": false,
+    "extra_data": {
+      "registry": "https://registry.npmjs.org/",
+      "@my-scope:registry": "https://npm.pkg.github.com",
+      "always-auth": "true"
+    },
+    "dependencies": [],
+    "repository_homepage_url": null,
+    "repository_download_url": null,
+    "api_data_url": null,
+    "datasource_id": "npmrc",
+    "purl": null
+  }
+]
diff --git a/tests/packagedcode/data/pypi/unpacked_sdist/metadata-2.1/commoncode-21.5.12/pyproject.toml b/tests/packagedcode/data/pypi/unpacked_sdist/metadata-2.1/commoncode-21.5.12/pyproject.toml
index 8eebe91a559..0e7211f7b91 100644
--- a/tests/packagedcode/data/pypi/unpacked_sdist/metadata-2.1/commoncode-21.5.12/pyproject.toml
+++ b/tests/packagedcode/data/pypi/unpacked_sdist/metadata-2.1/commoncode-21.5.12/pyproject.toml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 [tool.setuptools_scm]
 # this is used populated when creating a git archive
 # and when there is .git dir and/or there is no git installed
-fallback_version = "v9999.$Format:%h-%cs$"
+fallback_version = "v9999.ea42c1d09d3-2026-05-26"
 
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
 norecursedirs = [
diff --git a/tests/packagedcode/test_npm.py b/tests/packagedcode/test_npm.py
index 0be0bfe0ca1..29d6a36f658 100644
--- a/tests/packagedcode/test_npm.py
+++ b/tests/packagedcode/test_npm.py
@@ -550,6 +550,17 @@ def test_npm_scan_with_private_package_json_and_yarn_lock(self):
             expected_file, result_file, remove_uuid=True, regen=REGEN_TEST_FIXTURES
         )
 
+    def test_is_datafile_npmrc(self):
+        test_file = self.get_test_loc('npm/npmrc/.npmrc')
+        assert npm.NpmrcHandler.is_datafile(test_file)
+
+    def test_parse_npmrc(self):
+        test_file = self.get_test_loc('npm/npmrc/.npmrc')
+        expected_loc = self.get_test_loc('npm/npmrc/.npmrc-expected.json')
+        packages = npm.NpmrcHandler.parse(test_file)
+        self.check_packages_data(packages, expected_loc, regen=REGEN_TEST_FIXTURES)
+
+
 
 test_data = [
     (['MIT'], 'mit'),