How can I change the cache path for npm (or comple

Question

I've installed Node.js on my Windows 7 x64 development machine, the manual way:

mkdir C:\Devel\nodejs
cd C:\Devel\nodejs
set NODE_PATH=%CD%
setx /M PATH "%PATH%;%NODE_PATH%"
setx /M NODE_PATH "%NODE_PATH%\node_modules"

I've placed the main node x64 binary along with npm package manager in C:\Devel\nodejs. Works like a charm and I can update the main binary without dealing with the installer.

The only problem I can't solve is moving the cache folder. When I install a local package:

npm install express

... cache is placed under %APP_DATA%\npm-cache folder. I'd like to change it to:

C:\Devel\nodejs\npm-cache

How can I change the npm cache folder, or disable it completely?

Answer 1

You can also set an environment variable with export npm_config_cache=/path/to/cache (Unix) or set npm_config_cache=C:\path\to\cache (Win) as an alternative to npm config set (this is true for all config options in npm).

---

For anyone using docker you can add the env var at runtime with:

docker run -e npm_config_cache=/path/to/cache mydockerimage:tag

Answer 2

You can change npm cache folder using the npm command line. (see : https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/config and more specifically https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/config#cache)

So you might want to try this command :

> npm config set cache C:\Devel\nodejs\npm-cache --global 

Answer 3

In addition, I found that running an update command works also. For example: "npm update npm". Without quotes. Lastly, one can check their npm-cache directory to see if is being filled or not.