Getting weird superfluous log for every invocation of `npm ...`: `config:load:flatten`

[TimDaub]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

every call that I make with npm ... e.g. calling a script npm run connect, there is this weird looking log that makes no sense in this context:

(⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂) ⠇ : timing config:load:flatten Completed in 2ms

E.g. I have npm run connect setup where it connects to a preconfigured server, but this annoying log doesn't allow me to read the buffer.
This happens across different workspaces with different npm package.json files too!

Expected Behavior

log should not appear

Steps To Reproduce

I'm not sure how this came to be...

Environment

• npm: 8.11.0
• Node.js: 16.15.1
• OS Name: mac os 12.2.1
• System Model Name:
• npm config:

npm config ls
npm WARN config init.author.name Use `--init-author-name` instead.
npm WARN config init.author.email Use `--init-author-email` instead.
npm WARN config init.author.url Use `--init-author-url` instead.
; "user" config from /Users/timdaub/.npmrc

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken = (protected)
email = "myemail"
init.author.email = "="
init.author.name = "Tim Daubenschütz <myemail>"
init.author.url = "https://timdaub.github.io/"
prefix = "/usr/local"
save-exact = true
save-prefix = ""

[TimDaub]

After using n to switch between node versions, e.g. n v14, I found that with other versions of npm this problem isn't occurring e.g.

npm -v
6.14.17

[zinkem]

I'm having the same issue after updating node yesterday.

npm 8.3.1 does not do this, 8.12.1 does

[joaovitorzv]

same issue here after switching node/npm version with nvm now on any npm command this bar appears

currently using:

npm: '8.12.1' (also happens on 8.13.1)
node: '16.13.1',

[ljharb]

@joaovitorzv what about on the real terminal, as opposed to the vscode one?

[joaovitorzv]

@joaovitorzv what about on the real terminal, as opposed to the vscode one?

also happens, on the screenshot I tested on gnome-terminal + bash and xfce4-terminal + zsh

[zinkem]

The config:load:flatten message stopped appearing for me after resolving all npm warnings.

In my case I had to comment out several deprecated/unused variables from my .npmrc file.

 % nvm use 18
Now using node v18.4.0 (npm v8.12.1)

[timothee-alby]

I had the same problems, caused by an old .npmrc file left in a workspace (WARN ignoring workspace config at /path/to/.npmrc).

This was solved by removing the file.

[drfish]

Thank you op for asking the question & Zinkem for the suggested fix, I've had a repo that suddenly wouldn't start angular in dev mode last week. Not sure which NPM I had installed but probably 8.14.0 (on node 16.16.0) and no one else in the company was having the same problem. Dropped my NPM to 8.3.1 and bam it works.

After some trial and error it looks like for my win10 64-bit machine running node 16.16.0, any NPM 8.7 & above has this error. Another who is a mac user is on node 16.15.0 with NPM 8.11.0 and has no problems.

[webhype]

Same issue here, getting a cryptic "warning" when starting a project with npm run start:

npm WARN config optional Use `--omit=optional` to exclude optional dependencies, or
npm WARN config `--include=optional` to include them.
npm WARN config 
npm WARN config     Default value does install optional deps unless otherwise omitted.

No idea what the warning is about, and even if it were important, why, for the rest of the program execution, show this weird progress bar (always at 100% fill), stuck to the bottom of the output?

(⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂⠂) ⠇ : timing config:load:flatten Completed in 3ms

I had the same with node 16.16.0, npm 8.11.0

Go through your .npmrc and workout what line causes the issues. For me it was init.author.name should be init-author-name and the same for the other init.author lines i had

[chuanqisun]

Seeing the same problem. My .npmrc only has registry and always-auth properties.

• Commenting out both lines have no effect.
• Deleting the file fixed the problem.

Given that I still need the content in the .npmrc, there is no known workaround. Any help from the CLI team please?

• Node: v16.16.0
• npm: 8.11.0