How to npm install to only save dependency to package.json?

Was searching for the solution. Haven't found, then made a script which adds dependencies (latest or specified versions) to the package.json file skipping the installation process.

https://www.npmjs.com/package/add-dependencies

Installation

If not using with npx (see below):

$ npm install add-dependencies [-g]

Usage

Run:

$ add-dependencies [package_file] <dependencies> [target] [--no-overwrite]

or with npx:

$ npx add-dependencies [package_file] <dependencies> [target] [--no-overwrite]

where dependencies is the list of dependencies divided by space, and target is one of the following:

• --dev / --save-dev / -D for devDependencies
• --peer / --save-peer / -P for peerDependencies
• --optional / --save-optional / -O for optionalDependencies

If no target argument passed, dependencies are written to dependencies.

If no package_file argument passed, the script searches for a package.json file within the current working directory.

Use --no-overwrite flag to prevent already existing packages in package.json from being overwritten.

Example:

$ add-dependencies /home/user/project/package.json [email protected] [email protected] redux eslint --dev

or with npx:

$ npx add-dependencies /home/user/project/package.json [email protected] [email protected] redux eslint --dev

---

Hope this could help someone else.

There is no way to do that with npm that I'm aware of.

There are two npm packages for doing this; I've never used either of them, but they might be worth a try:

• https://www.npmjs.com/package/npm-add
• https://www.npmjs.com/package/adddep

Hope this helps!

Interestingly combining --package-lock-only with --no-package-lock seems to do this

npm install --package-lock-only --no-package-lock PACKAGE

This does not create or update the package-lock.json file. Only adds an entry to the package.json

UPDATE

This was actually a bug and is now fixed in npm 6.9.0

https://github.com/npm/cli/pull/146

https://npm.community/t/release-npm-6-9-0/5911