VS2017 not able to identify the command npm ci

Question

Node version: 8.11.3

I checked out a solution. It includes package-lock.json. So, I am trying to run npm ci on the instance.

Unfortunately, it is not working. I am getting the message:

Usage: npm <command>

where <command> is one of:
    access, adduser, bin, bugs, c, cache, completion, config,
    ddp, dedupe, deprecate, dist-tag, docs, doctor, edit,
    explore, get, help, help-search, i, init, install,
    install-test, it, link, list, ln, login, logout, ls,
    outdated, owner, pack, ping, prefix, profile, prune,
    publish, rb, rebuild, repo, restart, root, run, run-script,
    s, se, search, set, shrinkwrap, star, stars, start, stop, t,
    team, test, token, tst, un, uninstall, unpublish, unstar,
    up, update, v, version, view, whoami

npm <command> -h     quick help on <command>
npm -l           display full usage info
npm help <term>  search for help on <term>
npm help npm     involved overview

Specify configs in the ini-formatted file:
    C:\Users\abhishek.kumar\.npmrc
or on the command line via: npm <command> --key value
Config info can be viewed via: npm help config

npm@5.6.0 C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm

Did you mean one of these?
    c
    I

Please help me to understand what I am doing wrong.

Answer 1

It looks like your version of node/npm might be too old to support npm ci.

I believe 'npm ci' was introduced in npm v6.x, whereas your npm version is 5.6

npm@5.6.0 C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm