How to install node_modules only those packages defined in the file package.json

Question

When I used npm install of Laravel project. It creates a lot of unnecessary libraries. I want to know how to install only the packages I have defined in package.json file.

Answer 1

It is because npm install is recursive. Let's say your project require the module A , which itself require the module B , npm install will end up installing both.

In short, even if you only used one module in your package.json , all the modules you see are needed.

Answer 2

Those packages have dependencies which have dependencies of their own. So unless you want to break your application, I wouldn't alter it.