Npm Install Doesn't Create Node_Modules Directory

NPM has created a node_modules directory at '/home/jasonshark/' path.

From your question it looks like you wanted node_modules to be created in the current directory.

For that,

1. Create project directory: mkdir <project-name>
2. Switch to: cd <project-name>
3. Do: npm init This will create package.json file at current path

4. Open package.json & fill it something like below

   {
       "name": "project-name",
       "version": "project-version",
       "dependencies": {
           "mongodb": "*"
       }
   }
   

5. Now do : npm install OR npm update

Now it will create node_modules directory under folder 'project-name' you created.

If you have a package-lock.json file, you may have to delete that file then run npm i. That worked for me

See @Cesco's answer: npm init is really all you need

I was having the same issue - running npm install somePackage was not generating a node_modules dir.

I created a package.json file at the root, which contained a simple JSON obj:

{
    "name": "please-work"
}

On the next npm install the node_modules directory appeared.

As soon as you have run npm init and you start installing npm packages it'll create the node_moduals folder after that first install

e.g

npm init

(Asks you to set up your package.json file)

npm install <package name here> --save-dev

installs package & creates the node modules directory

I ran into this trying to integrate React Native into an existing swift project using cocoapods. The FB docs (at time of writing) did not specify that npm install react-native wouldn't work without first having a package.json file. Per the RN docs set your entry point: (index.js) as index.ios.js

my problem was to copy the whole source files contains .idea directory and my webstorm terminal commands were run on the original directory of the source
I delete the .idea directory and it worked fine

For me, I had to go into the directory where the package.json is itself and then run npm install in order to see node_modules folder. Apparently, running npm install in a directory that has NO package.json does not error or tell you otherwise.

A few things to try that worked for me:

1. Try running the NPM install from outside of your IDE, just from the bash / PowerShell / cmd prompt. It will work the same, and might complete successfully.

2. Try upgrading NPM:

npm install -g npm

or, to stay within a specific major version:

npm install -g @latest-7

THEN run your npm install again.

cd into the directory and then run

npm install node