for example, when I need to install webpack, usually we are supposed to use "npm i -D webpack", but if I use "npm i webpack" instead, there is no difference in my final bundle file, why we need to specify '-D'?
I think there is no differences between them, why not just use npm i?
npm i -D
npm i
As per the docs, npm install -D means you are installing the package as a devDependency and not a regular dependency.
How is this different?
When your app is deployed and your server runs the npm install step, it will only install the packages that are in dependency and not those in devDependency. Hence, we usually install things like eslint, typescript and such as devDependency and not regular depedency.
Reference
https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v6/commands/npm-install
If I installed some package with NPM it will work and recognize it if I run my project with yarn start instead npm start?
Yes, it will still work after all the required packages are installed.
But you should not switch package Managers like that since you will generate two lock files if you use both to install packages. npm generates the package-lock.json and yarn will generate the yarn.lock file. I recommend you to stay with one or switch completely.
In runtime, it does not make any difference if you use yarn or npm.
npm run start and yarn start will do exactly the same.
How I can skip installing optional dependencies from package-lock.json by npm ci?
You can use npm ci --no-optional .
If npm still installs the optional package. Then try after removing package.lock.json and run the command again.
There was an error in NPM's implementation of npm ci --no-optional. It has been fixed in versions > 6.13.3 - maybe earlier versions as well, but I can only vouch for 6.13.4 and up.
I was facing this issue with CI workflow script and even "--no-optional" was not working
npm ci --no-optional
The above command only worked when I added the optional package as
"optionalDependencies": {
"fsevents": "^2.3.2"
}
in the package.json file
It's not a proper solution, rather an ugly one, but it helped me out. It looks like npm ci --no-optional doesn't work and probably never worked. But at the same time flag --production works. And if we afford mutating package.json (e.g. in a docker container) then...
So I wrote a simple script that:
reads package.json content
Object.assign(cfg.dependencies, cfg.devDependencies)
delete cfg.devDependencies
overwrites the initial package.json
So finally we have:
dependencies contains both normal & dev dependencies
devDependencies section is empty
optionalDependencies are intact
And when we run npm ci --production we got what we want - no optional dependencies (in my case cypress). Due to the fact that all these steps are performed inside of a docker container we can mutate package.json.
But I'm not sure that it'll help you too.
In order to make npm ci --no-optional skip/ignore an optional pacakge, it's important to understand how npm intracts with package.json and pacakge-lock.json.
npm install --no-optional (is only effective if pacakge-lock.json doesn't exists otherwise it would ignore --no-optional)*
npm ci --no-optional is only effective if pakcage-lock.json was already created with npm install --no-optional**.
* This means if you want to make an already installed package an optional, you can would have to
Add it "optionalDependencies": either manulally or through npm install pacakge-name --save-optional
Delete the pacakge-lock.json.
then run rm -rf node_modules/
Lastly run npm install --no-optional
Add this point npm ci --no-optional isn't suppose to install it.
** TIP: you could debug if a certian package is assigned as optional by running npm ls package-name
Note: This one the reason why its recommended to keep trak pacakge-lock.json with git repo of the project.
I'm working with continuous integration and discovered the npm ci command.
I can't figure what the advantages are of using this command for my workflow.
Is it faster? Does it make the test harder, okay, and after?
From the official documentation for npm ci:
In short, the main differences between using npm install and npm ci are:
The project must have an existing package-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.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 any of the package-locks: installs are essentially frozen.
Essentially,
npm install reads package.json to create a list of dependencies and uses package-lock.json to inform which versions of these dependencies to install. If a dependency is not in package-lock.json it will be added by npm install.
npm ci (also known as Clean Install) is 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.
It installs dependencies directly from package-lock.json and uses package.json only to validate that there are no mismatched versions. If any dependencies are missing or have incompatible versions, it will throw an error.
Use npm install to add new dependencies, and to update dependencies on a project. Usually, you would use it during development after pulling changes that update the list of dependencies but it may be a good idea to use npm ci in this case.
Use npm ci if you need a deterministic, repeatable build. For example during continuous integration, automated jobs, etc. and when installing dependencies for the first time, instead of npm install.
npm install
Installs a package and all its dependencies.
Dependencies are driven by npm-shrinkwrap.json and package-lock.json (in that order).
without arguments: installs dependencies of a local module.
Can install global packages.
Will install any missing dependencies in node_modules.
It may write to package.json or package-lock.json.
When used with an argument (npm i packagename) it may write to package.json to add or update the dependency.
when used without arguments, (npm i) it may write to package-lock.json to lock down the version of some dependencies if they are not already in this file.
npm ci
Requires at least npm v5.7.1.
Requires package-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.json to be present.
Throws an error if dependencies from these two files don't match package.json.
Removes node_modules and install all dependencies at once.
It never writes to package.json or package-lock.json.
Algorithm
While npm ci generates the entire dependency tree from package-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.json, npm install updates the contents of node_modules using the following algorithm (source):
load the existing node_modules tree from disk
clone the tree
fetch the package.json and assorted metadata and add it to the clone
walk the clone and add any missing dependencies
dependencies will be added as close to the top as is possible
without breaking any other modules
compare the original tree with the cloned tree and make a list of
actions to take to convert one to the other
execute all of the actions, deepest first
kinds of actions are install, update, remove and move
npm ci will delete any existing node_modules folder and relies on the package-lock.json file to install the specific version of each package. It is significantly faster than npm install because it skips some features. Its clean state install is great for ci/cd pipelines and docker builds! You also use it to install everything all at once and not specific packages.
While everyone else has answered the technical differences none explain in what situations to use both.
You should use them in different situations.
npm install is great for development and in the CI when you want to cache the node_modules directory.
When to use this? You can do this if you are making a package for other people to use (you do NOT include node_modules in such a release). Regarding the caching, be careful, if you plan to support different versions of Node.js remember that node_modules might have to be reinstalled due to differences between the Node.js runtime requirements. If you wish to stick to one version, stick to the latest LTS.
npm ci should be used when you are to test and release a production application (a final product, not to be used by other packages) since it is important that you have the installation be as deterministic as possible, this install will take longer but will ultimately make your application more reliable (you do include node_modules in such a release). Stick with LTS version of Node.js.
npm i and npm ci both utilize the npm cache if it exists, this cache lives normally at ~/.npm.
Also, npm ci respects the package-lock.json file. Unlike npm install, which rewrites the file and always installs new versions.
Bonus: You could mix them depending on how complex you want to make it. On feature branches in git you could cache the node_modules to increase your teams productivity and on the merge request and master branches rely on npm ci for a deterministic outcome.
The documentation you linked had the summary:
In short, the main differences between using npm install and npm ci are:
The project must have an existing package-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.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 any of the package-locks: installs are essentially frozen.
The commands are very similar in functionality however the difference is in the approach taken to install the dependencies specified in your package.json and package-lock.json files.
npm ci performs a clean install of all the dependencies of your app whereas npm install may skip some installations if they already exist on the system. A problem may arise if the version already installed on the system isn't the one your package.json intended to install i.e. the installed version is different from the 'required' version.
Other differences would be that npm ci never touches your package*.json files. It will stop installation and show an error if the dependency versions do not match in the package.json and package-lock.json files.
You can read a much better explanation from the official docs here.
Additionally, you may want to read about package locks here.
It is worth having in mind that light node docker images like alpine do not have Python installed which is a dependency of node-gyp which is used by npm ci.
I think it's a bit opinionated that in order to have npm ci working you need to install Python as dependency in your build.
More info here Docker and npm - gyp ERR! not ok
npm ci - install exactly what is listed in package-lock.json
npm install - without changing any versions in package.json, use package.json to create/update package-lock.json, then install exactly what is listed in package-lock.json
npm update - update package.json packages to latest versions, then use package.json to create/update package-lock.json, then install exactly what is listed in package-lock.json
Or said a different way, npm ci changes 0 package files, npm install changes 1 package file, and npm update changes 2 package files.
It does a clean install, use it in situations where you would delete node_modules and re-run npm i.
I have no idea why some people think it's short for "continuous integration". There is an npm install command that can be run as npm i and an npm clean-install command that can be run as npm ci.
npm install is the command used to install the dependencies listed in a project's package.json file, while npm ci is a command that installs dependencies from a package-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.json file. The npm ci command is typically used in continuous integration (CI) environments, where the package-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.json file is checked into version control and should not be modified. Because npm ci installs dependencies from a locked file, it is a faster and more reliable way to install dependencies than npm install, which could install different versions of dependencies based on the state of the package.json file.
I'm looking for an equivalent for yarn's --pure-lockfile flag.
This flag is useful when installing dependencies in CI, when you want it to read your lockfile but not modify it.
Does npm v5 have an equivalent?
npm 5.7 introduced the npm ci subcommand:
the main differences between using npm install and npm ci are:
The project must have an existing package-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.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 any of the package-locks: installs are essentially frozen.
this is how I did in my dockerfile
RUN npm install --pure-lockfile
it should work perfect.