How to install all relevant packages? - node.js

Question

I have a Node.js project which has several dependencies.
I created the package.json file (npm init)
and try to install all the relevant packages
(npm install all) or (npm install)
with npm install I'm getting the following result:
npm notice created a lockfile as package-lock.json. You should commit this file.
but
when I'm trying to run, I'm getting error that a package is missing (i.e express and I need to install it manually)
Is there a way (command) to install at once (with one command) all the relevant packages and dependencies ? (instead of install each of the package manually) ?

Answer 1

Update 1:
I think I found the solution to your problem, you can use this npm module for auto installing your dependencies.
Install
npm install -g auto-install
Usage
Run auto-install in the directory you are working in.
So npm is simple!
you can add a single package using npm install package-name
or
you can install all using npm install, this will read your package.json file and install all the packages which are in there
Additionally you can do this:
npm install package1 package2 package to install multiple packages.

Answer 2

If a required dependency is not installed, just install it once manually using npm's --save argument and it will automatically add that dependency to your package.json.
For instance, if you are missing the express dependency, just run:
npm install --save express
That will install the dependency in your node_modules folder and also automatically update your package.json file to include express. On subsequent installs on different machines, you'll now only need to run npm install and the express package will be added automatically.
Update with a little more context: In Node your package.json file defines all dependencies that are required for your project. However, these dependencies are not automatically generated for you. npm init will create a boilerplate package.json, but it will not fill that package.json with any dependencies.
You need to define the dependencies yourself, which you can do one of two ways:
Manually add lines to your package.json's dependencies section
Use npm install --save <package name> to have npm install a package and automatically save that package as a dependency in your package.json file
If you aren't familiar with package.json files, I'd recommend sticking to approach number 2 so that npm handles editing that file for you.
Once you have a package.json with all of the dependencies you need, then when you pull down your project onto new machines you will be able to automatically install all dependencies at once using a simple npm install command. You can test this on your own machine by deleting the node_modules folder and running npm install, then trying to run your project. If it runs fine then you successfully added all dependencies to your package.json. If it complains about a missing package then add that package with npm install --save <package>