Run "npm install" as if package was not in workspace - node.js

Question

I am working on an NPM workspace node project. To deploy one of the workspace's packages, I would like to run npm install and obtain a node_modules directory as a subdirectory of that package such that the package becomes self-contained.
Consider the directory structure below:
node_modules
packages
├ cloud-app
│ ├ src
│ └ package.json
├ helpers
│ ├ src
│ └ package.json
├ business-logic
│ ├ src
└ └ package.json
package.json
Just one deduplicated node_modules is excellent for development in a monorepo. But to deploy the cloud-app package, I need the structure to look like this:
packages
├ cloud-app
│ ├ node_modules
│ ├ src
│ └ package.json
├ helpers
│ ├ src
│ └ package.json
├ business-logic
│ ├ src
└ └ package.json
package.json
Then, I could upload the cloud-app directory as usual without exposing my NPM workspace to the vendor's (incompatible) CD pipeline.
Is this possible at all? What would be the correct command or procedure here?

Answer 1

This seems to work. Try the workspaces argument:
cd <my_project_root>
npm i --workspaces=false
https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v9/commands/npm-install#workspaces

Answer 2

While I did not find a standard way to achieve this, there is a slightly hacky way that worked for me:
Copying the node_modules directory allows the package to act as a stand-alone module. However, there is one caveat: The node_modules directory contains a symlink for each package in the workspace. Thus, a loop begins when it is copied into a package and when symlinks are followed. To prevent this, we first have to delete our package. Therefore, a deploy script could look something like this:
rm ./node_modules/cloud-app
cp -rL ./node_modules ./cloud-app/node_modules
# deploy cloud-app here
I thought of this while formulating the above question but would still be delighted to know whether there is any canonical, supported way to do this.

Answer 3

Something you can try is what #youzen brought on this post.
Basically, in the root folder of your repository, you can run:
npm install --prefix <path/to/prefix_folder> -g
And so, the node_modules folder will be created in the specified folder.
You could access the link mentioned above to get others solutions, hope this helps!