Uninstalling packages and dependencies
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Table of contents
If you no longer need to use a package in your code, we recommend uninstalling it and removing it from your project's dependencies.
Uninstalling local packages
Removing a local package from your node_modules directory
To remove a package from your node_modules directory, on the command line, use the uninstall command. Include the scope if the package is scoped.
This uninstalls a package, completely removing everything npm installed on its behalf.
It also removes the package from the dependencies, devDependencies, optionalDependencies, and peerDependencies objects in your package.json.
Further, if you have an npm-shrinkwrap.json or package-lock.json, npm will update those files as well.
Unscoped package
npm uninstall <package_name>
Scoped package
npm uninstall <@scope/package_name>
Example
npm uninstall lodash
Removing a local package without removing it from package.json
Using the --no-save will tell npm not to remove the package from your package.json, npm-shrinkwrap.json, or package-lock.json files.
Example
npm uninstall --no-save lodash
--save or -S will tell npm to remove the package from your package.json, npm-shrinkwrap.json, and package-lock.json files. This is the default, but you may need to use this if you have for instance save=false in your .npmrc file.
Confirming local package uninstallation
To confirm that npm uninstall worked correctly, check that the node_modules directory no longer contains a directory for the uninstalled package(s).
- Unix system (such as OSX):
ls node_modules - Windows systems:
dir node_modules
Uninstalling global packages
To uninstall an unscoped global package, on the command line, use the uninstall command with the -g flag. Include the scope if the package is scoped.
Unscoped package
npm uninstall -g <package_name>
Scoped package
npm uninstall -g <@scope/package_name>
Example
For example, to uninstall a package called jshint, run:
npm uninstall -g jshint
