How to clean node_modules folder of packages that are not in package.json?

Assume I install project packages with npm install that looks into package.json for modules to be installed. After a while I see that I don't need some specific module and remove its dependency from package.json. Then I remove some other modules from package.json because they are not needed anymore and others are replaced with alternatives.

Now I want to clean node_modules folder so that only modules listed in package.json stay there and the rest must go, something like npm clean. I know I can remove them manually but would like to have some nice ready to use sugar functionality for that.

15 Answers

I think you're looking for npm prune

npm prune [<name> [<name ...]]

This command removes "extraneous" packages. If a package name is provided, then only packages matching one of the supplied names are removed.

Extraneous packages are packages that are not listed on the parent package's dependencies list.

See the docs:

You could remove your node_modules/ folder and then reinstall the dependencies from package.json.

rm -rf node_modules/ npm install 

This would erase all installed packages in the current folder and only install the dependencies from package.json. If the dependencies have been previously installed npm will try to use the cached version, avoiding downloading the dependency a second time.

Due to its folder nesting Windows can’t delete the folder as its name is too long. To solve this, install RimRaf:

npm install rimraf -g rimraf node_modules 

From version 6.5.0 npm supports the command clean-install (ci) to hard refresh all the packages.

Please, see the references:

• npm 6.x: npm-ci | npm Docs.
• npm 7.x: npm-ci | npm Docs.
• npm Blog Archive: Introducing npm ci for faster, more reliable builds.

simple just run

rm -r node_modules 

in fact, you can delete any folder with this.

like rm -r AnyFolderWhichIsNotDeletableFromShiftDeleteOrDelete.

just open the gitbash move to root of the folder and run this command

Hope this will help.

First globally install rimraf

npm install rimraf -g 

go to the path using cmd where your node_modules folder and apply below command

rimraf node_modules 

Just in-case somebody needs it, here's something I've done recently to resolve this:

npm ci - If you want to clean everything and install all packages from scratch:

-It does a clean install: if the node_modules folder exists, npm deletes it and installs a fresh one.

-It checks for consistency: if package-lock.json doesn’t exist or if it doesn’t match the contents of package.json, npm stops with an error.

npm-dedupe - If you want to clean-up the current node_modules directory without deleting and re-installing all the packages

Searches the local package tree and attempts to simplify the overall structure by moving dependencies further up the tree, where they can be more effectively shared by multiple dependent packages.

Have you tried npm prune?

it should uninstall everything not listed in your package file

The best article I found about it is this one:

All from the console and easy to execute from any folder point.

But as a summary of the article, this command to find the size for each node_module folder found in different projects.

find . -name "node_modules" -type d -prune -print | xargs du -chs 

And to actually remove them:

find . -name 'node_modules' -type d -prune -print -exec rm -rf '{}' \; 

The article contains also instructions for windows shell.

I have added few lines inside package.json:

"scripts": { ... "clean": "rmdir /s /q node_modules", "reinstall": "npm run clean && npm install", "rebuild": "npm run clean && npm install && rmdir /s /q dist && npm run build --prod", ... } 

If you want to clean only you can use this rimraf node_modules or rm -rf node_modules.

It works fine

For Windows User, alternative solution to remove such folder listed here:

Among them, a free tool: Long Path Fixer is good to try:

rimraf is an package for simulate linux command [rm -rf] in windows. which is useful for cross platform support. for install its CLI:

npm install rimraf -g 

For all of those who use Yarn, no need to rm -rf node_modules, you can just remove package from dependency list, and run yarn

You can also use npx in combination with rimraf to remove all node modules with one command, so you don't have to install rimraf first.

So go to the path where your node_modules folder is located by using cmd (in case you are not there already) and run the following command

npx rimraf node_modules 

Use following command instead of npm install

npm ci