NPM Install vs. NPM CI

In this article, we will see the main differences between NPM Install and NPM CI.

Introduction 

 

In this article, we will see the main differences between NPM Install and NPM CI. 

npm install

• npm install (or npm i) is used to install all dependencies (dependencies or devDependencies) from a package.json file
• npm install can update the package-lock.json file. If doesn't exist, it will create it

npm ci

• npm ci is used to install all exact version dependencies (dependencies or devDependencies) from a package-lock.json file (even package.json is required)

CI means continuous integration, and it will follow the below steps;

1. First, it will delete the node_module folder, if it exists.
2. It will look package-lock.json to install all dependencies with the exact version.
3. npm ci doesn't modify the package-lock.json file.

Summary

 

npm install - installs new dependencies or updates existing dependencies based on version (^,` or *) in a package.json file

 

npm ci - when you want to run continuous integration tools like Jenkins, TeamCity or GitLab CI, then use npm ci, which doesn't modify the package-lock.json file