Our deployment process is taking ages and part of that reason is passing the node_modules folder to the production server.

My Package.json looks like this:

{
  "name": "s-sass",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "description": "Sass gulp task for COMS Service Portal",
  "main": "gulpfile.js",
  "dependencies": {
    "angular": "^1.5.5",
    "angular-sanitize": "=1.5.5",
    "angular-ui-bootstrap": "^1.3.2",
    "gridster": "^0.5.6",
    "gulp": "^3.9.0",
    "gulp-jshint": "^2.0.0",
    "gulp-sass": "^2.0.4",
    "jasmine-core": "^2.4.1",
    "jquery": "^2.2.3",
    "jquery.cookie": "^1.4.1",
    "jshint": "^2.9.1",
    "jshint-visual-studio": "^1.0.1",
    "karma": "^0.13.22",
    "karma-chrome-launcher": "^0.2.2",
    "karma-phantomjs-launcher": "^1.0.0",
    "karma-requirejs": "^0.2.6",
    "lodash": "^4.6.1",
    "moment": "^2.13.0",
    "ng-csv": "^0.3.6",
    "requirejs": "^2.1.0",
    "bootstrap":  "=3.3.5" 
  },
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "devDependencies": {
    "angular-mocks": "^1.5.5",
    "karma-jasmine": "^0.3.8",
    "karma-ng-html2js-preprocessor": "^0.2.1",
    "karma-phantomjs-launcher": "^1.0.0",
    "karma-requirejs": "^0.2.6",
    "phantomjs": "^2.1.3",
    "phantomjs-prebuilt": "^2.1.6"
  }
}

I obviously do not want to deploy karma and phantom as part of the production build.

How can I exclude them for deployment and is there anything else I can do to reduce the size of my node_modules folder.

Our deployment process is taking ages and part of that reason is passing the node_modules folder to the production server.

My Package.json looks like this:

{
  "name": "s-sass",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "description": "Sass gulp task for COMS Service Portal",
  "main": "gulpfile.js",
  "dependencies": {
    "angular": "^1.5.5",
    "angular-sanitize": "=1.5.5",
    "angular-ui-bootstrap": "^1.3.2",
    "gridster": "^0.5.6",
    "gulp": "^3.9.0",
    "gulp-jshint": "^2.0.0",
    "gulp-sass": "^2.0.4",
    "jasmine-core": "^2.4.1",
    "jquery": "^2.2.3",
    "jquery.cookie": "^1.4.1",
    "jshint": "^2.9.1",
    "jshint-visual-studio": "^1.0.1",
    "karma": "^0.13.22",
    "karma-chrome-launcher": "^0.2.2",
    "karma-phantomjs-launcher": "^1.0.0",
    "karma-requirejs": "^0.2.6",
    "lodash": "^4.6.1",
    "moment": "^2.13.0",
    "ng-csv": "^0.3.6",
    "requirejs": "^2.1.0",
    "bootstrap":  "=3.3.5" 
  },
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "devDependencies": {
    "angular-mocks": "^1.5.5",
    "karma-jasmine": "^0.3.8",
    "karma-ng-html2js-preprocessor": "^0.2.1",
    "karma-phantomjs-launcher": "^1.0.0",
    "karma-requirejs": "^0.2.6",
    "phantomjs": "^2.1.3",
    "phantomjs-prebuilt": "^2.1.6"
  }
}

I obviously do not want to deploy karma and phantom as part of the production build.

How can I exclude them for deployment and is there anything else I can do to reduce the size of my node_modules folder.

• javascript
• node.js

• That's a front-end application, you don't need the node_modules folder on the server. And if you really need those packages, you can deploy the package.json file and install the dependencies on your server. – Ram Commented May 3, 2016 at 9:20
• @Vohuman Most of the case I agree with you and I do feel like it is the case here. However it may not always be true. It depends how he is building his app. One may choose not to embed some libraries, and use the node_module dist instead if it is browser patible. – Quentin Roy Commented May 3, 2016 at 9:25
• How can I exclude karma and phantom for production? – dagda1 Commented May 3, 2016 at 9:27

3 Answers 3

there is flag --production to npm install. In an production env you could install npm i --production this will skip all devDependencies. https://www.npmjs/doc/misc/npm-config.html#production

Another prossibility is 'tree shaking' with rollup.js or babel. Check this here: http://www.2ality./2015/12/webpack-tree-shaking.html

Have you thought about building/piling/transpiling the distribution files and only deploying those? I.e. transfer only whats under 'dist' or similar directory.

Looks like you're building a browser facing parts of an application. For such app, the node_modules directory contains mostly build and testing tools that are to be used during piling - you shouldn't need to transfer those anywhere. What you need though, is angular and jquery and similar, but those npm packages contain a lot of fluff and shouldn't be deployed as is either.

You should create a set of files that are needed by the user's browser only and transfer those to the production server. This is usually what's created in a 'dist' directory during the build.

Have a look at node-prune:

node-prune is a small tool to prune unnecessary files from ./node_modules, such as markdown, typescript source files, and so on.

This could be bined with other provided solutions and be made part of your build process.