How can I uninstall npm modules in Node.js?

Solution 1:

The command is simply npm uninstall <name>

The Node.js documents https://npmjs.org/doc/ have all the commands that you need to know with npm.

A local install will be in the node_modules/ directory of your application. This won't affect the application if a module remains there with no references to it.

If you're removing a global package, however, any applications referencing it will crash.

Here are different options:

npm uninstall <name> removes the module from node_modules but does not update package.json

npm uninstall <name> --save also removes it from dependenciesin package.json

npm uninstall <name> --save-dev also removes it from devDependencies in package.json

npm uninstall -g <name> --save also removes it globally

Solution 2:

If it doesn't work with npm uninstall <module_name> try it globally by typing -g.

Maybe you just need to do it as an superUser/administrator with sudo npm uninstall <module_name>.

Solution 3:

Well, to give a complete answer to this question, there are two methods (for example we call the installed module as module1):

  1. To remove module1 without changing package.json:

    npm uninstall module1

  2. To remove module1 with changing package.json, and removing it from the dependencies in package.json:

    npm uninstall --save module1

Note: to simplify the above mentioned commands, you can use -S instead of --save , and can use remove, rm, r, un, unlink instead of uninstall

Solution 4:

I just install stylus by default under my home dir, so I just use npm uninstall stylus to detach it, or you can try npm rm <package_name> out.