[BUG] Can't install new dependencies into workspace package with workspace dependencies

[justinfagnani]

Current Behavior:

npm i some-package fails if run in a workspace package that depends on another workspace package. The error is that the other workspace package is not found in the registray:

npm ERR! code E404
npm ERR! 404 Not Found - GET https://registry.npmjs.org/other-package - Not found

Here other-package is a private package in the same workspace.

You also can't add a dependency manually and run npm i in the root of the workspace due to #1984

So there appears to be no way to add new dependencies in a workspace, aside from deleting the top-level node_modules folder and package-lock.

Expected Behavior:

npm i inside a workspace package should update the package.json file and install the dependency.

Steps To Reproduce:

1. In a workspace with packages a and b, with a depending on b
2. Do an initial install at the workspace root to set everything up
3. cd to packages/a
4. Run npm i {some-package}
5. See error...

Environment:

• OS: macOS
• Node: 15
• npm: 17.0.5

[protyposis]

This is probably related to what I described in #2036 (comment). The current answer in #2036 (comment) is that npm install does not support workspace packages yet and we need to edit the package.json manually (which, as you already said, doesn't work: #1984).

[samscodes]

I have the same issue

[darcyclarke]

@justinfagnani we're working on improving the workspace experiences for these types of scenarios this quarter.

[ruyadorno]

Starting from npm@7.14.0 npm install now supports adding dependencies to configured workspaces using the following syntax:

$ npm install <pkg> -w <workspace-name>

It's also possible to install a workspace into another, e.g:

npm init -y
Wrote to <path>/test-new-workspaces/package.json

$ npm init -w packages/a -y
Wrote to <path>/test-new-workspaces/packages/a/package.json

$ npm init -w packages/b -y
Wrote to <path>/test-new-workspaces/packages/b/package.json

$ npm i b -w a

added 2 packages, and audited 5 packages in 723ms

found 0 vulnerabilities

$ npm ls
test-new-workspaces@1.0.0 <path>/test-new-workspaces
├─┬ a@1.0.0 -> <path>/test-new-workspaces/packages/a
│ └── b@1.0.0 deduped -> <path>/test-new-workspaces/packages/b
└── b@1.0.0 -> <path>/test-new-workspaces/packages/b

[craigphicks]

@ruyadorno - I found that npm i b -w a would install the external package 'b' from npm.
To get it to work properly the exact version is necessary:

npm i b@1.0.0 -w a

in this case.

---

EDIT: adding exact procedure to recreate the error when NOT using the exact version, but the commands that @ruyadorno provided. I am using

• npm 7.21.1
• node v14.7.4

In an empty folder execute a shell script as follows:

npm init -y
npm init -w packages/a -y
npm init -w packages/b -y
npm i b -w a
npm ls

The output (ending in a error ) is a as follows -

Wrote to /home/craig/tmp/package.json:

{
  "name": "tmp",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC"
}


Wrote to /home/craig/tmp/packages/a/package.json:

{
  "name": "a",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC"
}


Wrote to /home/craig/tmp/packages/b/package.json:

{
  "name": "b",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC"
}



added 2 packages, and audited 4 packages in 562ms

found 0 vulnerabilities
tmp@1.0.0 /home/craig/tmp
├─┬ a@1.0.0 -> ./packages/a
│ └── b@2.0.1
└── UNMET DEPENDENCY b@file:/home/craig/tmp/packages/b

npm ERR! code ELSPROBLEMS
npm ERR! missing: b@file:/home/craig/tmp/packages/b, required by tmp@1.0.0

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/craig/.npm/_logs/2021-10-02T21_45_42_165Z-debug.log