Uninstall a package dependency
Medium risk
What do risk levels mean?
- Read-only
- Inspects state without changing anything.
- Low risk
- Reversible with a routine follow-up command.
- Medium risk
- Changes state; undo path documented.
- Destructive
- Deletes or overwrites; confirmation required.
Records the installed version, then removes a direct dependency from node_modules, package.json, and the package lock.
nodenpmuninstall
Parameters
Direct npm package name to remove.
Commands
Record the installed version before removal
npm ls "<package>" --depth=0Record which dependency section declares the package
npm pkg get dependencies devDependencies optionalDependencies peerDependenciesRemove the package without executing uninstall lifecycle scripts
npm uninstall --ignore-scripts "<package>"Verification
npm ls "<package>" --depth=0npm reports that the package is absent from the project root.
Undo
Not undoable
Reinstallation cannot universally recover the prior version, dependency section, or package-local state removed with node_modules.
Pitfalls
- To recover tracked project state, restore package.json and package-lock.json from version control, then run npm ci --ignore-scripts.
- Removing a transitive package directly does not remove the parent dependency that requires it.