Node.js – How to install npm peer dependencies automatically

node.jsnpm

For example, when I install Angular2:

npm install --save angular2
temp@1.0.0 /Users/doug/Projects/dougludlow/temp
├── angular2@2.0.0-beta.3 
├── UNMET PEER DEPENDENCY es6-promise@^3.0.2
├── UNMET PEER DEPENDENCY es6-shim@^0.33.3
├── UNMET PEER DEPENDENCY reflect-metadata@0.1.2
├── UNMET PEER DEPENDENCY rxjs@5.0.0-beta.0
└── UNMET PEER DEPENDENCY zone.js@0.5.11

npm WARN angular2@2.0.0-beta.3 requires a peer of es6-promise@^3.0.2 but none was installed.
npm WARN angular2@2.0.0-beta.3 requires a peer of es6-shim@^0.33.3 but none was installed.
npm WARN angular2@2.0.0-beta.3 requires a peer of reflect-metadata@0.1.2 but none was installed.
npm WARN angular2@2.0.0-beta.3 requires a peer of rxjs@5.0.0-beta.0 but none was installed.
npm WARN angular2@2.0.0-beta.3 requires a peer of zone.js@0.5.11 but none was installed.

Is there a magic flag that I can pass to npm that will install the peer dependencies as well? I haven't been able to find one… It's tedious to manually copy and paste the peer dependencies and make sure I have the correct versions.

In other words, I'd rather not have to do:

npm install --save angular2@2.0.0-beta.3 es6-promise@^3.0.2 es6-shim@^0.33.3 reflect-metadata@0.1.2 rxjs@5.0.0-beta.0 zone.js@0.5.11

What is the better way?

Best Answer

The automatic install of peer dependencies was explicitly removed with npm 3, as it cause more problems than it tried to solve. You can read about it here for example:

So no, for the reasons given, you cannot install them automatically with npm 3 upwards.

NPM V7

NPM v7 has reintroduced the automatic peerDependencies installation. They had made some changes to fix old problems as version compatibility across multiple dependants. You can see the discussion here and the announcement here

Now in V7, as in versions before V3, you only need to do an npm i and all peerDependences should be automatically installed.

Related Topic