Reputation: 13958
Is it possible to specify a target directory when running npm install <package>
?
Upvotes: 355
Views: 452222
Reputation: 9455
There currently is no documented way to install a package in an arbitrary directory. You should change into the target directory, make sure it has a package.json
, and then use the regular commands.
While there currently is an undocumented option called --prefix
, this feature might be removed in a future release. At least, it it is not planned to ever document this as an official feature.
Upvotes: 4
Reputation: 392
I am using a powershell build and couldn't get npm to run without changing the current directory.
Ended up using the start command and just specifying the working directory:
start "npm" -ArgumentList "install --warn" -wo $buildFolder
Upvotes: 0
Reputation: 2014
As of npm version 3.8.6, you can use
npm install --prefix ./install/here <package>
to install in the specified directory. NPM automatically creates node_modules
folder even when a node_modules
directory already exists in the higher up hierarchy.
You can also have a package.json
in the current directory and then install it in the specified directory using --prefix
option:
npm install --prefix ./install/here
As of npm 6.0.0, you can use
npm install --prefix ./install/here ./
to install the package.json in current directory to "./install/here" directory. There is one thing that I have noticed on Mac that it creates a symlink to parent folder inside the node_modules directory. But, it still works.
NOTE: NPM honours the path that you've specified through the --prefix
option. It resolves as per npm documentation on folders, only when npm install
is used without the --prefix
option.
Upvotes: 85
Reputation: 33449
In the documentation it's stated: Use the prefix option together with the global option:
The prefix config defaults to the location where node is installed. On most systems, this is /usr/local. On windows, this is the exact location of the node.exe binary. On Unix systems, it's one level up, since node is typically installed at {prefix}/bin/node rather than {prefix}/node.exe.
When the global flag is set, npm installs things into this prefix. When it is not set, it uses the root of the current package, or the current working directory if not in a package already.
(Emphasis by them)
So in your root directory you could install with
npm install --prefix <path/to/prefix_folder> -g
and it will install the node_modules
folder into the folder
<path/to/prefix_folder>/lib/node_modules
Upvotes: 57
Reputation: 13958
You can use the --prefix
option:
mkdir -p ./install/here/node_modules
npm install --prefix ./install/here <package>
The package(s) will then be installed in ./install/here/node_modules
. The mkdir
is needed since npm might otherwise choose an already existing node_modules
directory higher up in the hierarchy. (See npm documentation on folders.)
Upvotes: 464