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JavaScript npm Basics (retiring) Updating and Uninstalling Packages with npm Updating Packages with npm

Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points
Posted by Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
10,684 Points

Where should the node_modules & package folder be when uploading an app to a server to be hosted live?

In this tutorial I ended up installing all the stuff at C:\Users\Me but the app file I created is at C:\Users\Me\Downloads\nodejslearn\npmbasics\app.js.

If npmbasics was an app to be uploaded I would have to install everything locally at C:\Users\Me\Downloads\nodejslearn\npmbasics\app.js for it to work with all the dependencies when I upload? So node_modules & package folder there locally?

1 Answer

Doug Hawkinson
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Doug Hawkinson
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Student 25,073 Points
Doug Hawkinson
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Doug Hawkinson
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Student 25,073 Points

This looks like Windows and I'm not a Windows guy anymore, but I think the simple answer is node_modules does not get loaded up to a production server and package.json should be in the root of your project.

The reason for this is that node_modules is both dynamic and specific to the environment. When "npm install" is executed in the root of of the app on the production server, your package.json informs npm to create a new node_modules folder (in the root of the app) and the "dependencies" object within package.json informs npm which specific modules and versions to deploy.

I know that heroku (at least in a Mac environment) requires an engines object that looks like this

  "engines": {
    "node": "9.8.0"
  },

that signals npm which version of node to use. Of course that 9.8.0 will be dependent on which version of node you are running on the localhost.

Now, I have just exceeded my knowledge, so I will stop for now. I hope that helps. But be sure you confirm it with a Windows guy.