How to install npm -g on offline server - node.js

Question

I need to install a "global" npm applications on an offline server.
It is easy to install a normal application:
npm install
and then pack up the resulting files. Either manually or using npm pack.
However, how can I install global application (that has a install script of some sort) such as forever without Internet?
npm install -g forever

Answer 1

try npmbox, it is the new name of npmzip which will allow you to install offline npm packages by one file

Answer 2

You can install stuff from a tarball file, check out the npm documentation. You can find the URL of the forever tarball with npm view forever dist.tarball and download that. Try something like this:
curl -so forever.tar.gz `npm view forever dist.tarball 2> /dev/null`
npm install ./forever.tar.gz -g
But you might have to do this for all of the dependencies as well. There might be a better way but this is what I've found in my search.

Answer 3

Well.... after a day trying to make it work with above references (npmbox or offline-npm) came up with something way much simpler. Thanks to npmbox I have to say.
The idea is the keep the cache from the instance that has online access and then use it in the one offline.
In machine with internet:
1 - clear npm cache: npm cache clear
2 - install package, lets say its x.y.z: npm install -g **package.x.y.z**
3 - copy cache in to a folder... let's call it whatever (I assume npm cache is in root folder, not absolutely sure about that):
cp -R /.npm/* **/cache-whatever-folder**
In machine with no internet:
4 - take this cache-whatever-folder to the instance with no internet and after that, clean cache and install with it (I won't indicate how to copy the folder :)
npm cache clear
npm install --global --cache **/cache-whatever-folder** --optional --cache-min 99999999999 --shrinkwrap false **package.x.y.z**
Done

Answer 4

INSTALL PM2 OFFLINE:-
Tested on Node-v6.10.3 and Npm-3.10.10 on RHEL-7
Go to machine with internet connection:-
#npm install -g npmbox
#npmbox npmbox
#scp npmbox.npmbox root#offline-server-ip:.
Go to machine without internet connection :-
#ssh root#offline-server-ip
#tar --no-same-owner --no-same-permissions -xvzf npmbox.npmbox
#npm install --global --cache ./.npmbox.cache --optional --cache-min 99999999999 --shrinkwrap false npmbox
Go to machine with internet connection:-
#npm install pm2 -g
#npmbox pm2
#scp pm2.npmbox root#offline-server-ip:.
Go to machine without internet connection :-
#npmunbox pm2.npmbox --global
#pm2 ls

Answer 5

I created offline-npm for getting all the dependencies installed in a clean way. For modules without the use of node-gyp everything should work as described.
If you require node-gyp (which is usually installed online) consider copying ~/.node-gyp to that offline machine.

Answer 6

Try npmzip
npm install -g npmzip
npmzip <package>
You will get the tarball in the current directory
This may be moved to the target machine and :
npmunzip <tarball>

Answer 7

Using Yarn:
On the internet machine (configure local cache location):
yarn config set yarn-offline-mirror ~/yarn-offline-mirror/
On the offline machine (configure local cache location):
yarn config set yarn-offline-mirror ~/yarn-offline-mirror/
On the offline machine, Find out where is the global installation location:
yarn global bin
(Or set it with yarn config set prefix <file_path>)
On the offline machine, add it to your path. E.g.:
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:'"$(yarn global bin)" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc # reload
On the internet machine, download forever's dependencies:
mkdir new-cli-forever/
cd new-cli-forever/
yarn add forever
Then copy new-cli-forever/yarn.lock and ~/yarn-offline-mirror/ to the offline machine. (rm -rf new-cli-forever/ is ok now.)
On the offline machine, install forever from local cache:
cp /path/to/imported/yarn.lock .
cp -n /path/to/imported/yarn-offline-mirror/* ~/yarn-offline-mirror/
yarn global add --offline forever
rm -f ./yarn.lock
For more info, see my post here: https://assafmo.github.io/2018/04/11/yarn-offline.html

Answer 8

List the dependencies in bundledDependencies in your package.json, and then run npm pack to create a tarball. Get that over to the other machine, and either npm install <tarball>, or just crack it open manually.
https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/1349

Answer 9

npmbox is outdated
Use npm pack command (npm docs), no need to install anything.
Single package
If you want only one package (for example, forever), you can run:
npm pack forever
this command will fetch it to the cache, and then copy the tarball to the current working directory as -.tgz
Then, from the folder you created the package, you install it with:
npm install -g ./forever-x.y.z.tgz
Whole project
If you want a whole project to be installed offline, include a poperty in your package.json named bundleDependencies and list all dependecies you need in this field.
// package.json
"dependencies": {
"archiver": "^2.1.1",
"axios": "^0.16.2",
"body-parser": "^1.18.3"
},
"bundleDependencies": {
"archiver": "^2.1.1",
"axios": "^0.16.2",
"body-parser": "^1.18.3"
}
Then run npm pack.
It will create a .tgz file of your whole project and dependencias.
You just have to copy it to the offline server and untar.

Answer 10

On your local machine or any machine that has internet connection, do
npm install npm-bundle -g
npm install forever -g
Now, go to cd /usr/local/lib/node_modules/forever and do
npm-bundle
It will create a .tgz file. Now scp/ftp that .tgz file to the offline server and do
npm install forever -g
Reference: This blog

Answer 11

On an online machine do:
# change to desired packages
packages="pm2 yarn"
for pkg in $packages; do
mkdir "$pkg"
curl "$(npm view "$pkg" dist.tarball)" |
tar -xzC "$pkg" --strip-components 1
(cd "$pkg" && npm install)
done
tar -czf packages.tar.gz $packages
On the offline server do:
npm config set offline
tar -xzf packages.tar.gz
npm install -g pm2 yarn