Introducing "npm ci" for faster and more reliable builds.

From today, all npm users can take advantage of the new installation command, called “npm ci”. The team provides massive improvements in the performance and reliability of assemblies for continuous integration and continuous deployment processes, providing a consistent and fast experience for developers using CI / CD in their work.

What the heck is that?

npm ci ignores the package.json package and installs modules guided by its lockfile (package-lock.json). This allows you to create reproducible builds: you get exactly what you expect with each installation.

Previously, developers who wanted to get synchronized node_mobules and package.json, archived their node_modules folder. npm ci replaces this process with a single command.
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Why?

It is fast.





npm ci is fast - in some cases, twice as fast as npm i. It provides a significant increase in productivity for all developers using continuous integration.

These increased speed and reliability shorten the time and contribute to the best development practices. It is faster and easier to run tests, developers can run them more often and intercept errors more actively.

npm ci promises that big teams will get the greatest advantage. The ability to give developers to “subscribe” to the lock file contributes to more effective collaboration in large teams, and the ability to install exactly what is described in the lock file can potentially save dozens, if not thousands, of working hours per month, allowing teams to spend more of their time to create and maintain beautiful things.

This increases reliability.

npm ci also provides additional options for improving the reliability of your application's builds. As an additional installation command, npm ci can be used to return to its original state if npm i failed, and vice versa. This greatly reduces the likelihood of a failed installation.

How?

npm ci is available immediately after upgrading to the latest npm version: run npm install -g npm @ latest. For more details about the release, refer to the change log .

What do you think?

We want to know how it works for you as well. Questions? Results? Want to share what you and your team have created? Write to us .