NPM-CI(1)

NAME
npm-ci - Clean install a project

  Synopsis

    npm ci
    aliases: clean-install, ic, install-clean, isntall-clean

  Description

This command is similar to npm help install, except it's meant to be used in automated environments such as test platforms, continuous integration, and deployment -- or any situation where you want to make sure you're doing a clean install of your dependencies.

The main differences between using npm install and npm ci are:

    •   The project must have an existing package-lock.json.

    •   If dependencies in the package lock do not match those in package.json, npm ci will exit with an error, instead of updating the package lock.

    •   npm ci can only install entire projects at a time: individual dependencies cannot be added with this command.

    •   If a node_modules is already present, it will be automatically removed before npm ci begins its install.

    •   It will never write to package.json or package-lock.json: installs are essentially frozen.

NOTE: If you create your package-lock.json file by running npm install with flags that can affect the shape of your dependency tree, such as --legacy-peer-deps or --install-links, you must provide the same flags to npm ci or you are likely to encounter errors. An easy way to do this is to run, for example, npm config set legacy-peer-deps=true --location=project and commit the .npmrc file to your repo.

  Example

Make sure you have a package-lock and an up-to-date install:

    $ cd ./my/npm/project
    $ npm install
    added 154 packages in 10s
    $ ls | grep package-lock

Run npm ci in that project

    $ npm ci
    added 154 packages in 5s

Configure Travis CI to build using npm ci instead of npm install:

    # .travis.yml
    install:
    - npm ci
    # keep the npm cache around to speed up installs
    cache:
      directories:
      - "$HOME/.npm"

  Configuration

  install-strategy

    •   Default: "hoisted"

    •   Type: "hoisted", "nested", "shallow", or "linked"

Sets the strategy for installing packages in node_modules. hoisted (default): Install non-duplicated in top-level, and duplicated as necessary within directory structure. nested: (formerly --legacy-bundling) install in place, no hoisting. shallow (formerly --global-style) only install direct deps at top-level. linked: install in node_modules/.store, link in place, unhoisted.

We recommend that package authors use --install-strategy=linked during development to catch undeclared ("phantom") dependencies before publishing: the isolated layout only exposes a package's declared dependencies, so an import of a package that was never added to package.json can fail instead of resolving by accident and shipping broken. See Catching undeclared ("phantom") dependencies ⟨/using-npm/developers#catching-undeclared-phantom-dependencies⟩.

  legacy-bundling

    •   Default: false

    •   Type: Boolean

    •   DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of --install-strategy=nested

Instead of hoisting package installs in node_modules, install packages in the same manner that they are depended on. This may cause very deep directory structures and duplicate package installs as there is no de-duplicating. Sets --install-strategy=nested.

  global-style

    •   Default: false

    •   Type: Boolean

    •   DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of --install-strategy=shallow

Only install direct dependencies in the top level node_modules, but hoist on deeper dependencies. Sets --install-strategy=shallow.

  omit

    •   Default: 'dev' if the NODE_ENV environment variable is set to 'production'; otherwise, empty.

    •   Type: "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)

Dependency types to omit from the installation tree on disk.

Note that these dependencies are still resolved and added to the package-lock.json file. They are just not physically installed on disk.

If a package type appears in both the --include and --omit lists, then it will be included.

If the resulting omit list includes 'dev', then the NODE_ENV environment variable will be set to 'production' for all lifecycle scripts.

  include

    •   Default:

    •   Type: "prod", "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)

Option that allows for defining which types of dependencies to install.

This is the inverse of --omit=<type>.

Dependency types specified in --include will not be omitted, regardless of the order in which omit/include are specified on the command-line.

  strict-peer-deps

    •   Default: false

    •   Type: Boolean

If set to true, and --legacy-peer-deps is not set, then any conflicting peerDependencies will be treated as an install failure, even if npm could reasonably guess the appropriate resolution based on non-peer dependency relationships.

By default, conflicting peerDependencies deep in the dependency graph will be resolved using the nearest non-peer dependency specification, even if doing so will result in some packages receiving a peer dependency outside the range set in their package's peerDependencies object.

When such an override is performed, a warning is printed, explaining the conflict and the packages involved. If --strict-peer-deps is set, then this warning is treated as a failure.

  foreground-scripts

    •   Default: false unless when using npm pack or npm publish where it defaults to true

    •   Type: Boolean

Run all build scripts (ie, preinstall, install, and postinstall) scripts for installed packages in the foreground process, sharing standard input, output, and error with the main npm process.

Note that this will generally make installs run slower, and be much noisier, but can be useful for debugging.

  ignore-scripts

    •   Default: false

    •   Type: Boolean

If true, npm does not run scripts specified in package.json files.

Note that commands explicitly intended to run a particular script, such as npm start, npm stop, npm restart, npm test, and npm run will still run their intended script if ignore-scripts is set, but they will not run any pre- or post-scripts.

Setting ignore-scripts also disables .npm-extension execution, as if ignore-extension were set.

  allow-directory

    •   Default: "all"

    •   Type: "all", "none", or "root"

Limits the ability for npm to install dependencies from directories. That is, dependencies that point to a directory instead of a version or semver range. Please note that this could leave your tree incomplete and some packages may not function as intended or designed. Changing this setting will not remove dependencies that are already installed.

all allows any directories to be installed. none prevents any directories from being installed. root only allows directories defined in your project's package.json to be installed. Also allows directory dependencies to be used for other commands like npm view

  allow-file

    •   Default: "all"

    •   Type: "all", "none", or "root"

Limits the ability for npm to install dependencies from tarball files. That is, dependencies that point to a local tarball file instead of a version or semver range. Please note that this could leave your tree incomplete and some packages may not function as intended or designed. Changing this setting will not remove dependencies that are already installed.

all allows any tarball file to be installed. none prevents any tarball file from being installed. root only allows tarball files defined in your project's package.json to be installed. Also allows tarball file dependencies to be used for other commands like npm view

  allow-git

    •   Default: "none"

    •   Type: "all", "none", or "root"

Limits the ability for npm to fetch dependencies from git references. That is, dependencies that point to a git repo instead of a version or semver range. Please note that this could leave your tree incomplete and some packages may not function as intended or designed. Changing this setting will not remove dependencies that are already installed.

As of npm 12 the default is none. Git dependencies run git against a remote repo and may install configuration the project does not control. Opt in explicitly per project (in .npmrc) or per command (on the CLI) when you need git deps.

all allows any git dependencies to be fetched and installed. none prevents any git dependencies from being fetched and installed. root only allows git dependencies defined in your project's package.json to be fetched and installed. Also allows git dependencies to be fetched for other commands like npm view

  allow-remote

    •   Default: "none"

    •   Type: "all", "none", or "root"

Limits the ability for npm to fetch dependencies from urls. That is, dependencies that point to a tarball url instead of a version or semver range. Please note that this could leave your tree incomplete and some packages may not function as intended or designed. Changing this setting will not remove dependencies that are already installed.

As of npm 12 the default is none. Tarballs that share a hostname with the configured registry (the typical case for the npm registry, GitHub Packages, and most private registries) are still installed normally. If your registry serves tarballs from a different host, set replace-registry-host or override this setting. Opt in explicitly per project (in .npmrc) or per command (on the CLI) when you intentionally install from a URL.

all allows any url to be installed. none prevents any url from being installed. root only allows urls defined in your project's package.json to be installed. Also allows url dependencies to be used for other commands like npm view

  allow-scripts

    •   Default: ""

    •   Type: String (can be set multiple times)

Comma-separated list of packages whose install-time lifecycle scripts (preinstall, install, postinstall, and prepare for non-registry dependencies) are allowed to run.

This setting is intended for one-off and global contexts: npm exec, npx, and npm install -g, where no project package.json is involved. For team-wide policy in a project, use the allowScripts field in package.json (which also supports explicit denials), or configure it in .npmrc. Passing --allow-scripts on the command line during a project-scoped npm install, ci, update, or rebuild is an error.

Each name is matched against a dependency's resolved identity, not against the package's self-reported name. --ignore-scripts and --dangerously-allow-all-scripts both override this setting.

  strict-allow-scripts

    •   Default: false

    •   Type: Boolean

If true, turn the install-script policy from a warning into a hard error: any dependency with install scripts that is not covered by allowScripts will fail the install instead of being blocked with a warning.

Dependencies explicitly denied with false in allowScripts are always silently skipped; this setting only affects unreviewed entries (packages with install scripts that are neither approved nor denied). --ignore-scripts and --dangerously-allow-all-scripts both override this setting.

Optional dependencies that cannot be installed on the current platform or engine (a non-matching os, cpu, or libc) are not flagged, because their install scripts never run.

  dangerously-allow-all-scripts

    •   Default: false

    •   Type: Boolean

If true, bypass the allowScripts policy entirely and run every dependency install script regardless of whether it was approved or denied. Intended as a migration escape hatch only; its use is strongly discouraged. --ignore-scripts still takes precedence over this setting.

  audit

    •   Default: true

    •   Type: Boolean

When "true" submit audit reports alongside the current npm command to the default registry and all registries configured for scopes. See the documentation for npm help audit for details on what is submitted.

  bin-links

    •   Default: true

    •   Type: Boolean

Tells npm to create symlinks (or .cmd shims on Windows) for package executables.

Set to false to have it not do this. This can be used to work around the fact that some file systems don't support symlinks, even on ostensibly Unix systems.

  fund

    •   Default: true

    •   Type: Boolean

When "true" displays the message at the end of each npm install acknowledging the number of dependencies looking for funding. See npm help fund for details.

  dry-run

    •   Default: false

    •   Type: Boolean

Indicates that you don't want npm to make any changes and that it should only report what it would have done. This can be passed into any of the commands that modify your local installation, eg, install, update, dedupe, uninstall, as well as pack and publish.

Note: This is NOT honored by other network related commands, eg dist-tags, owner, etc.

  workspace

    •   Default:

    •   Type: String (can be set multiple times)

Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of the current project while filtering by running only the workspaces defined by this configuration option.

Valid values for the workspace config are either:

    •   Workspace names

    •   Path to a workspace directory

    •   Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all workspaces within that folder)

When set for the npm init command, this may be set to the folder of a workspace which does not yet exist, to create the folder and set it up as a brand new workspace within the project.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

  workspaces

    •   Default: null

    •   Type: null or Boolean

Set to true to run the command in the context of all configured workspaces.

Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like install to ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:

    •   Commands that operate on the node_modules tree (install, update, etc.) will link workspaces into the node_modules folder. - Commands that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the root project, unless one or more workspaces are specified in the workspace config.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

  include-workspace-root

    •   Default: false

    •   Type: Boolean

Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.

When false, specifying individual workspaces via the workspace config, or all workspaces via the workspaces flag, will cause npm to operate only on the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

  install-links

    •   Default: false

    •   Type: Boolean

When set file: protocol dependencies will be packed and installed as regular dependencies instead of creating a symlink. This option has no effect on workspaces.

  See Also

    •   npm help install

    •   package-lock.json ⟨/configuring-npm/package-lock-json⟩