npm keeps installing globally

Question

I'm using latest npm, on a mac. I've got a strange problem: if I want to install some package locally on a folder, I'm forced to npm init it. In other words, if I simply npm install [package name] , it will install globally (in my /User/npm-modules folder), and thus the onnly way to install locally is to init the folder. So basically, the opposite it should normally do. Why? Any idea?

Answer 1

npm init creates package.json file in your current project directory. npm packages will install locally when you have package.json set up by using the command npm i PACKAGE-NAME .

Answer 2

Yes, if you want to install package localy, you need to create package.json file. This is what npm init will do and then you can install packages

Answer 3

I haven't worked with node in a while but back in my days, npm used to look for node_modues folder starting from current directory and keeps moving to the parent folder. If no node_modules folder is found then it will go to the global folder.

So in your case create an empty node_modules folder in your current directory and try npm install [package]

This should avoid the FORCED npm init you mentioned. However, a cleaner solution is always to use npm init .

The npm idea was to separate different apps and their dependencies in a single project. Looking for node-modules in the same folder helped to achieve this.