Install dependencies with npm from private gitlab repo

Question

I'm trying to install a package that exists on our private repo. The goal is to share the repo with a partner, but I need to make sure they can install it. In theory, it should work, but none of the documented solutions are working for me

I've tried adding the package to the package.json file

"dependencies": {
    "package_name": "git+https://<deploy-token-name>:<deploy-token>@gitlab.domain.com/group/repo.git"
}

And then installing with npm but it seems to fail on the deploy token, but it's hard to say because the log isn't very helpful and then our whole gitlab deployment goes down for a moment #fun

29 error
29 error undefined
29 error exited with error code: 128

I've also tried with a private access token

"package-name": "https://oauth2:<access-token>@gitlab.domain.com/group/repo.git"

This results in an actual error that I can understand, except the error is saying there isn't a package.json in the repository, but there most certainly is

npm ERR! package.json Non-registry package missing package.json: package-name@https://oauth2:<access-token>@gitlab.domain.com/group/repo.git.
npm ERR! package.json npm can't find a package.json file in your current directory.

I've tried with ssh (with a ssh key setup that works for commits etc)

git+ssh://[email protected]:my-project/my-repo#my-branch

And that results in an error

npm ERR! premature close

---

I've read through a dozen related issues and articles, but nothing is working for me

• Install npm module from gitlab private repository
• Install npm module from gitlab private repository
• Use dependencies from a private GitLab with NPM
• https://hackernoon.com/private-npm-packages-2e6579b37616

Answer 1

I've got the same issue and I managed to fix it. The gitlab repository that I wanted to install didn't have a package.json file.