How to avoid adding package to node_modules if it placed locally - npm

Question

I have repository with app and modules. Modules includes in app by package.json like:
"application-module": "file:../modules/application-module"
After yarn install that dependency added to node_modules.
I want to make module-base application. app folder reproduce root module. Other modules like admin-panel-module, account-module should be in modules folder. So, app may have node_modules inside, but also modules folder for modules. Those modules will add by git subtree from another repos. So, this way I can develop independently
Is any way to avoid adding and use local directories?

Answer 1

Multiple node_modules and package.json
In any node/npm project, you can have multiple package.json across your directory tree, like:
app/
package.json
node_modules
src...
account_module/
package.json
node_modules
src...
admin_module/
package.json
node_modules
src..
When you invoke yarn (or npm install ofc) on any of the children modules, the dependencies listed in their local package.json will be installed on the local node_modules folder.
So basically you can solve your issue ensuring that every children has their own package.json with their dependencies.
Still, you can place common dependencies in the root app folder. If all your projects for instance use lodash, you can place the lodash dependency in the add's package_json. After performing yarn in the app folder, the lodash package will be installed in the app's node_modules.
After that, if you:
require('lodash');
In any of the children, they will search for lodash in the app's node_modules folder if they don't find lodash in their own node_modules.
If you don't have a root node_modules, you can still declare a package.json local to any of the submodules, and they'll have their own node_modules.
So maybe you may want to avoid common dependencies at all, or maybe you want to store common dependencies in the app folder. Npm has you covered either ways.
However, if you don't want to handle common dependencies, yet are concerned about having to store a lot of duplicated packages in local machines, you may want to checkout pnpm, which is a wrapper over npm which allows to save a lot of space in local development machines.

Answer 2

I'm having (almost) the same issue with yarn.
I have create a package (typescript) called "test". In this package, after built, there are mainly 3 directories : dist (after built), node_modules and src.
Then I have created another package "test2" and in this package, have added "test" as a dependency "yarn add c:/.../.../test".
The package is the well installed in the node_module of test2. BUT, in "test2/node_modules/test", I can find the node_modules of test ( "test2/node_modules/test/node_modules". Why ? It increases the size of the package a lot.
In both tsconfig.json (test and test2) node_modules is excluded...
thks