How to exclude node_modules folder from publish artifact in VSTS

Question

I currently have a build definition in place to build my project and publish my files for release. My project relies on a bit of NPM to do some automation using Gulp.js. I dont need it for anything else once my gulp-tasks have run.

When I get to my publish artifacts step, it publishes all of the files in the node_modules directory even though I don't even have them in my repo. I was wondering if there was a way to exclude them from within the contents section or if anyone else has a better idea?

Here is my Publish Artifacts settings:

In the Contents section, I also tried:

**\*
!**\node_modules\*

I am pretty new with the Build & Release process and I am unsure what other information might be needed to help debug this issue. So please comment and I can include information as needed. Thanks!

Answer 1

Since Copy and Publish Build Artifacts task is deprecated now, you’d better use Copy Files task and Publish Build Artifacts task instead. And these two tasks can help you exclude node_modules folder from publishing to server. Detail settings as below:

Copy Files task

Source Folder: $(Build.SourcesDirectory)

Contents:

**\**
!**\node_modules\**

Target Folder: $(build.artifactstagingdirectory)

Publish Build Artifacts task

Publish Build Artifacts task: $(build.artifactstagingdirectory)

Artifact Name: drop