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In five minutes you’ll have a named, skinned NPC that greets players on right-click, and a copy of it somewhere else. You need the nmentities.npc permission (OP has it).

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1. Create it

Look at the block where your NPC should stand and run:
A player-looking character appears on that block (or 5 blocks ahead of you), facing you, named &fshopkeeper. It’s also auto-selected, so the next commands target it without any extra steps. [Image here: A freshly created NPC with the default player model, facing the player]
NPC names must be file-safe: letters, numbers, _ and -. The name is the NPC’s id everywhere.

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2. Give it a proper name

Quote multi-word names. & color codes work as usual.

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3. Give it a face

New NPCs wear a player model. Put any player’s skin on it:
The skin is fetched from Mojang in the background the first time you use a given name, so it may show the default skin for a second before the real one swaps in. After that it’s cached and instant. [Image here: The same NPC before and after /npc skin, wearing a different player’s skin]

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4. Or change what it is entirely

An NPC can also be any entity, or any of your loaded models:
Passing an entity type changes the base and clears any model. Passing a model name (regular or player model) applies it and keeps the base. The autocomplete lists exactly what your server has: every entity type in the runtime registry (modded ones included) plus every loaded model.
/npc skin only works on player-model NPCs. Switch to an entity or a regular model and the skin no longer applies.

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5. Make it attentive

Now it turns to face the nearest player within 8 blocks. Run it again to turn tracking off; the NPC freezes facing wherever it was looking at that moment. Two more flags in the same style: /npc glowing for an outline glow, /npc gravity to make it float in place. And /npc nametag false hides the floating name (the name is still kept, so dialogs keep showing who’s talking).

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6. Make it react

Attach any named effect from your Effects/ folder to the right-click:
Now right-clicking the NPC runs greeting: the NPC is the caster and the clicking player is @target, the same context as /nme effect start. A shop NPC can run a command mechanic, a guide can narrate, a quest giver can branch with if. Detach with /npc removeeffect greeting. [Image here: A player right-clicking an NPC and receiving a chat greeting]

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7. Place it somewhere else too

The same NPC can stand in many places. Walk to the second spot, look at the ground, and:
That’s a second instance of the same definition. Rename or restyle the definition and both update; each instance keeps its own position. Fine-tune a position by standing exactly where you want it and pulling your selected instance to you:

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8. Selecting a different NPC later

Commands target your selected instance. To switch selection:
Then right-click the NPC you mean within 15 seconds. It blinks its glow twice to confirm. Clicking works on the model itself, not just the base entity’s hitbox. /npc id tells you what you have selected, /npc deselect clears it.

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What you’ve learned

  • create makes a definition plus its first instance, spawn adds more instances.
  • Definition commands (display, skin, type, look, glowing, gravity, nametag, addeffect) change every instance at once. Run against a single selected copy, rename, skin and nametag change just that copy.
  • Right-click effects turn NPCs into interactive characters, powered by the same Effects system as your mobs.
  • Selection (auto on create/spawn, or /npc select + right-click) decides which instance the instance-level commands touch.
The full command list, including removal, listing and console usage, is in NPC Commands. What these commands write to disk is in NPC Files.