我可以通过package.json将依赖项加载到node_modules以外的单独文件夹中吗

Question

When I run this I am downloading all the dependencies in the node_modules directory

{
  "name": "bootstrap-test-app",
  "engine": "node 5.5.0",
  "engineStrict": false,
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "master.js",
  "scripts": {},
  "author": "soum",
  "license": "BSD-2-Clause",
  "devDependencies": {},
  "dependencies": {
    "bootstrap-sass": "latest",
    "jquery": "3.1.1",
    "requirejs": "2.1.22"
  }
}

My question is it possible to set a path for the dependencies instead of node_modules for example lets say in a dorectory called "dependencies"? Can I set a destination property relative to the root of project so that my file structure looks like this

my-app
  package.json
  dependencies
    -bootstrap-sass
    -jquery
    -requirejs
  node_modules

Answer 1

No, it is not possible now and it is very unlikely to be possible in the future.

See this issue on GitHub from 2013 and the comments there:

• Issue #3597: npm install into arbitrary folder instead of node_modules

The future of that can be summarize by two quotes from that discussion:

1. "Is there any way to change the location where the node_modules folder gets installed for local installed dependencies...??"
2. "no, there is not, and there are no plans to implement such a feature."

See also an older issue from 2011:

• Issue #775: node_modules directory location

What you can do is to create a directory that you want and a symlink called node_modules with something like that:

$ mkdir dependencies
$ ln -sv dependencies node_modules
‘node_modules’ -> ‘dependencies’
$ npm i tryjson -S
customdeps@1.0.0 /home/rsp/node/test/customdeps
└── tryjson@1.1.4 
$ ls dependencies
tryjson

I just came up with that idea. I wasn't sure if npm can install in a symlinked directory but I just tested it and it turns out that it can.

Of course to actually use those dependencies in Node, you'd have to set the NODE_PATH environment variable accordingly. See:

• https://nodejs.org/api/modules.html