How to npm install to only save dependency to package.json?

Question

I'm adding dependencies to a package.json that will be used as part of a provisioning process for a virtual machine. As such, I don't actually need to install the modules locally since the provisioner will do that for me inside the VM. So is there any way to do the following:

npm install --save <module> 

So that it only creates a dependency for the latest version of the module in package.json without actually downloading the module or creating a node_modules folder?

The --dry-run option is close, as it doesn't create a node_modules folder but it also doesn't write to package.json either.

For now, I'm manually doing the following each time I need to update packages before re-provisioning the VM:

rm -rf node_modules 

Other reasons for this might include being able to easily build a package.json file in low-bandwidth situations such as tethering, where you know you'll need the module eventually but don't want to spare the bandwidth.

Answer 1

Was searching for the solution. Haven't found, then made a script which adds dependencies (latest or specified versions) to the package.json file skipping the installation process.

https://www.npmjs.com/package/add-dependencies

Installation

If not using with npx (see below):

$ npm install add-dependencies [-g] 

Usage

Run:

$ add-dependencies [package_file] <dependencies> [target] [--no-overwrite] 

or with npx:

$ npx add-dependencies [package_file] <dependencies> [target] [--no-overwrite] 

where dependencies is the list of dependencies divided by space, and target is one of the following:

• --dev / --save-dev / -D for devDependencies
• --peer / --save-peer / -P for peerDependencies
• --optional / --save-optional / -O for optionalDependencies

If no target argument passed, dependencies are written to dependencies.

If no package_file argument passed, the script searches for a package.json file within the current working directory.

Use --no-overwrite flag to prevent already existing packages in package.json from being overwritten.

Example:

$ add-dependencies /home/user/project/package.json [email protected] [email protected] redux eslint --dev 

or with npx:

$ npx add-dependencies /home/user/project/package.json [email protected] [email protected] redux eslint --dev 

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Hope this could help someone else.

Answer 2

There is no way to do that with npm that I'm aware of.

There are two npm packages for doing this; I've never used either of them, but they might be worth a try:

• https://www.npmjs.com/package/npm-add
• https://www.npmjs.com/package/adddep

Hope this helps!