Is there an option to install an npm package without dependencies?

Question

I'm attemting to modify an npm package with multiple dependencies. As such npm install -g . takes a long time to execute. Do I have other options besides removing the dependencies from packages.json?

I think this question is a better fit for SO, and was asked there before this one - [Install only one package from package.json?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22420564/install-only-one-package-from-package-json). It also has updated answers. — Dan Dascalescu, Apr 04 '21 at 10:16
I’m voting to close this question because I believe it belongs to SO, and had been asked there already. — Dan Dascalescu, Apr 04 '21 at 10:16

score 23 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 22 '16 at 10:10

23

--no-optional option is now implemented according to this documentation https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/install :

The --no-optional argument will prevent optional dependencies from being installed.

answered Jan 22 '16 at 10:10

jurevert

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score 13 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 17 '17 at 14:51

If you're developing that node_module yourself, don't waste your time on npm installs, instead use npm link.

In short, you create a symbolic link to your module folder on an npm-owned global folder, and then in your app folder you ask npm to use that symbolic linked folder.

This makes changes you make in the module folder to be reflected immediately in your app.

Here are the main steps (copied from the tutorial linked below, make sure to read the tutorial for important gotchas):

cd to src/my_module
Run "npm link". This creates a symbolic link from a global folder to the src/my_module folder.
cd to src/my_app
Run npm link my_module. This links node_modules/my_module in this particular project to the global folder, so that require calls looking for my_module wind up loading it from your development folder, src/my_module.

See this tutorial: http://justjs.com/posts/npm-link-developing-your-own-npm-modules-without-tears And the official docs for npm link: https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/link

Not changing my accepted answer, but upvoting because this is useful for my specific case. — Justin Dearing, Jan 17 '17 at 14:53

score 9 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 16 '22 at 09:18

9

This feature was requested back in 2010, but unfortunately was ignored and closed: https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/340

I tried a bunch of options, and finally found a pretty simple solution - rename package.json to something else before doing npm install, then revert it back to after install finishes:

mv package.json package.bak
npm install <package_name> --no-save
mv package.bak package.json

edited Mar 16 '22 at 09:18

user7610

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answered Dec 04 '17 at 07:21

Vitaliy Ulantikov

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Wow, is that seriously still the only way? That's ridiculous, there should be a flag `--ignore-package` or something. – JacobTheDev Oct 12 '18 at 20:42
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This solution is good and so far it may be the best solution for my question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53532845/how-to-install-only-babel-related-devdependencies-in-package-json – aGuegu Nov 29 '18 at 19:46

score 7 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:40

7

Looking through the docs it doesn't appear to have an option beyond the --no-optional switch.

Untested/uncomfirmed

This SO Q&A titled: npm install installs all dependencies of my project over the network, even if they are already installed or available from cache would seem to imply there's a --skip-installed switch. But the docs do not make any reference to this switch.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:40

Community

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answered Nov 14 '14 at 20:37

slm

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Is there an option to install an npm package without dependencies?

4 Answers4

Untested/uncomfirmed