[node.js] Local dependency in package.json

I want to do something like this, so npm install also installs the package.json of ../somelocallib or more importantly its dependencies.

"dependencies": {
    "express": "*",
    "../somelocallib": "*"
}

Master project

Here is the package.json you will use for the master project:

"dependencies": {
    "express": "*",
    "somelocallib": "file:./somelocallib"
}

There, ./somelocallib is the reference to the library folder as relative to the master project package.json.

Reference: https://docs.npmjs.com/files/package.json#local-paths

Sub project

Handle your library dependencies.

In addition to running npm install, you will need to run (cd node_modules/somelocallib && npm install).

This is a known bug with NPM.

Reference: https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/1341 (seeking a more up-to-date reference)

Notes for Docker

Check in your master package.lock and your somelocallib/package.lock into your source code manager.

Then in your Dockerfile use:

FROM node:10
WORKDIR /app
# ...
COPY ./package.json ./package-lock.json ./
COPY somelocallib somelocallib
RUN npm ci
RUN (cd node_modules/zkp-utils/ && npm ci)
# ...

I use parenthesis in my (cd A && B) constructs to make the operation idempotent.

This worked for me: first, make sure the npm directories have the right user

sudo chown -R myuser ~/.npm
sudo chown -R myuser /usr/local/lib/node_modules

Then your in your package.json link the directory

"scripts": {
 "preinstall": "npm ln mylib ../../path/to/mylib"
}, 
"dependencies": {
  "mylib" : "*"
}

Here in 2020, working on a Windows 10, I tried with

"dependencies": {
    "some-local-lib": "file:../../folderY/some-local-lib" 
    ...
}

Then doing a npm install. The result is that a shortcut to the folder is created in node-modules. This doesn't work. You need a hard link - which windows support, but you have to do something extra in windows to create a hard symlink.

Since I don't really want a hard link, I tried using an url instead:

"dependencies": {
    "some-local-lib": "file:///D:\\folderX\\folderY\\some-local-lib.tar" 
     ....
}

And this works nicely.
The tar (you have to tar the stuff in the library's build / dist folder) gets extracted to a real folder in node-modules, and you can import like everything else.
Obviously the tar part is a bit annoying, but since 'some-local-lib' is a library (which has to be build anyway), I prefer this solution to creating a hard link or installing a local npm.

Actually, as of npm 2.0, there is support now local paths (see here).

There is great yalc that helps to manage local packages. It helped me with local lib that I later deploy. Just pack project with .yalc directory (with or without /node_modules). So just do:

npm install -g yalc  

in directory lib/$ yalc publish 

in project:

project/$ yalc add lib

project/$ npm install 

that's it.

When You want to update stuff:

lib/$ yalc push   //this will updated all projects that use your "lib"

project/$ npm install 

Pack and deploy with Docker

tar -czvf <compresedFile> <directories and files...>
tar -czvf app.tar .yalc/ build/ src/ package.json package-lock.json

Note: Remember to add .yalc directory.

inDocker:

FROM node:lts-alpine3.9

ADD app.tar /app

WORKDIR /app
RUN npm install

CMD [ "node", "src/index.js" ]

This is how you will add local dependencies:

npm install file:src/assets/js/FILE_NAME

Add it to package.json from NPM:

npm install --save file:src/assets/js/FILE_NAME

Directly add to package.json like this:

....
  "angular2-autosize": "1.0.1",
  "angular2-text-mask": "8.0.2", 
  "animate.css": "3.5.2",
  "LIBRARY_NAME": "file:src/assets/js/FILE_NAME"
....

It is now possible to specify local Node module installation paths in your package.json directly. From the docs:

Local Paths

As of version 2.0.0 you can provide a path to a local directory that contains a package. Local paths can be saved using npm install -S or npm install --save, using any of these forms:

../foo/bar
~/foo/bar
./foo/bar
/foo/bar

in which case they will be normalized to a relative path and added to your package.json. For example:

{
  "name": "baz",
  "dependencies": {
    "bar": "file:../foo/bar"
  }
}

This feature is helpful for local offline development and creating tests that require npm installing where you don't want to hit an external server, but should not be used when publishing packages to the public registry.

Two steps for a complete local development:

1. Provide the path to the local directory that contains the package.

{
  "name": "baz",
  "dependencies": {
    "bar": "file:../foo/bar"
  }
}

2. Symlink the package folder

   cd ~/projects/node-redis    # go into the package directory
   npm link                    # creates global link
   cd ~/projects/node-bloggy   # go into some other package directory.
   npm link redis              # link-install the package
   

This works for me.

Place the following in your package.json file

"scripts": {
    "preinstall": "npm install ../my-own-module/"
}

npm >= 2.0.0

This feature was implemented in the version 2.0.0 of npm. Example:

{
  "name": "baz",
  "dependencies": {
    "bar": "file:../foo/bar"
  }
}

Any of the following paths are also valid:

../foo/bar
~/foo/bar
./foo/bar
/foo/bar

The local package will be copied to the prefix (./node-modules).

npm < 2.0.0

Put somelocallib as dependency in your package.json as normal:

"dependencies": {
  "somelocallib": "0.0.x"
}

Then run npm link ../somelocallib and npm will install the version you're working on as a symlink.

[email protected] /private/tmp/app
+-- [email protected] -> /private/tmp/somelocallib

Reference: link(1)

Curious.....at least on Windows (my npm is 3.something) I needed to do:

"dependencies": {
 "body-parser": "^1.17.1",
 "module1": "../module1",
 "module2": "../module2",

When I did an npm install ../module1 --save it resulted in absolute paths and not relative per the documentation.

I messed around a little more and determined that ../xxx was sufficient.

Specifically, I have the local node modules checked out to say d:\build\module1, d:\build\module2 and my node project (application) in d:\build\nodeApp.

To 'install', I:

d:\build\module1> rmdir "./node_modules" /q /s && npm install
d:\build\module2> rmdir "./node_modules" /q /s && npm install
d:\build\nodeApp> rmdir "./node_modules" /q /s && npm install

module1's package.json has a dependency of "module2": "../module2"; module2 has no local dependency; nodeApp has dependencies "module1": "../module1" and "module2": "../module2".

Not sure if this only works for me since all 3 folders (module1, module2 and nodeApp) sit on that same level.......

If you want to further automate this, because you are checking your module into version control, and don't want to rely upon devs remembering to npm link, you can add this to your package.json "scripts" section:

"scripts": {
    "postinstall": "npm link ../somelocallib",
    "postupdate": "npm link ../somelocallib"
  }

This feels beyond hacky, but it seems to "work". Got the tip from this npm issue: https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/1558#issuecomment-12444454

I know that npm install ../somelocallib works.

However, I don't know whether or not the syntax you show in the question will work from package.json...

Unfortunately, doc seems to only mention URL as a dependency.

Try file:///.../...tar.gz, pointing to a zipped local lib... and tell us if it works.