[feature idea] cli: install package without any dependencies

[redbrain]

I'd like to be able to install an npm package without any of its dependencies, including direct dependencies.

While this would normally break functionality of packages, this would be useful for bug-fixing, developing, or (in my case) if you use custom-patched dependencies that would be overwritten on the install of a package that requires its original version.

I'm not sure if this is a place to ask for features to be implemented, but I'd like to see an easy way to do this (i.e. a cli flag --no-dependencies with plenty of warnings around it) in a future version of npm.

[ruyadorno]

hi @redbrain I do agree that's an useful workflow and while it's not directly in the npm cli today, it's possible to benefit from that functionality today using pacote (part of the npm package ecosystem).

Quick example, extract the contents of the latest published version of react to a <path> in your file system:

$ npx pacote extract react@latest ./react

You can also learn more about the pacote cli usage running: npx pacote --help

[redbrain]

Thanks, this is perfect!

[redbrain]

Is there a way to mark the discussion as closed/solved?

[ruyadorno]

done! 😄