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1.TH "NPM-PRUNE" "1" "February 2026" "NPM@11.11.0" ""2.SH "NAME"3\fBnpm-prune\fR - Remove extraneous packages4.SS "Synopsis"5.P6.RS 27.nf8npm prune \[lB]\[lB]<@scope>/\[rB]<pkg>...\[rB]9.fi10.RE11.SS "Description"12.P13This command removes "extraneous" packages. If a package name is provided, then only packages matching one of the supplied names are removed.14.P15Extraneous packages are those present in the \fBnode_modules\fR folder that are not listed as any package's dependency list.16.P17If the \fB--omit=dev\fR flag is specified or the \fBNODE_ENV\fR environment variable is set to \fBproduction\fR, this command will remove the packages specified in your \fBdevDependencies\fR.18.P19If the \fB--dry-run\fR flag is used then no changes will actually be made.20.P21If the \fB--json\fR flag is used, then the changes \fBnpm prune\fR made (or would have made with \fB--dry-run\fR) are printed as a JSON object.22.P23In normal operation, extraneous modules are pruned automatically, so you'll only need this command with the \fB--production\fR flag. However, in the real world, operation is not always "normal". When crashes or mistakes happen, this command can help clean up any resulting garbage.24.SS "Configuration"25.SS "\fBomit\fR"26.RS 027.IP \(bu 428Default: 'dev' if the \fBNODE_ENV\fR environment variable is set to 'production'; otherwise, empty.29.IP \(bu 430Type: "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)31.RE 032 33.P34Dependency types to omit from the installation tree on disk.35.P36Note that these dependencies \fIare\fR still resolved and added to the \fBpackage-lock.json\fR or \fBnpm-shrinkwrap.json\fR file. They are just not physically installed on disk.37.P38If a package type appears in both the \fB--include\fR and \fB--omit\fR lists, then it will be included.39.P40If the resulting omit list includes \fB'dev'\fR, then the \fBNODE_ENV\fR environment variable will be set to \fB'production'\fR for all lifecycle scripts.41.SS "\fBinclude\fR"42.RS 043.IP \(bu 444Default:45.IP \(bu 446Type: "prod", "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)47.RE 048 49.P50Option that allows for defining which types of dependencies to install.51.P52This is the inverse of \fB--omit=<type>\fR.53.P54Dependency types specified in \fB--include\fR will not be omitted, regardless of the order in which omit/include are specified on the command-line.55.SS "\fBdry-run\fR"56.RS 057.IP \(bu 458Default: false59.IP \(bu 460Type: Boolean61.RE 062 63.P64Indicates that you don't want npm to make any changes and that it should only report what it would have done. This can be passed into any of the commands that modify your local installation, eg, \fBinstall\fR, \fBupdate\fR, \fBdedupe\fR, \fBuninstall\fR, as well as \fBpack\fR and \fBpublish\fR.65.P66Note: This is NOT honored by other network related commands, eg \fBdist-tags\fR, \fBowner\fR, etc.67.SS "\fBjson\fR"68.RS 069.IP \(bu 470Default: false71.IP \(bu 472Type: Boolean73.RE 074 75.P76Whether or not to output JSON data, rather than the normal output.77.RS 078.IP \(bu 479In \fBnpm pkg set\fR it enables parsing set values with JSON.parse() before saving them to your \fBpackage.json\fR.80.RE 081 82.P83Not supported by all npm commands.84.SS "\fBforeground-scripts\fR"85.RS 086.IP \(bu 487Default: \fBfalse\fR unless when using \fBnpm pack\fR or \fBnpm publish\fR where it defaults to \fBtrue\fR88.IP \(bu 489Type: Boolean90.RE 091 92.P93Run all build scripts (ie, \fBpreinstall\fR, \fBinstall\fR, and \fBpostinstall\fR) scripts for installed packages in the foreground process, sharing standard input, output, and error with the main npm process.94.P95Note that this will generally make installs run slower, and be much noisier, but can be useful for debugging.96.SS "\fBignore-scripts\fR"97.RS 098.IP \(bu 499Default: false100.IP \(bu 4101Type: Boolean102.RE 0103 104.P105If true, npm does not run scripts specified in package.json files.106.P107Note that commands explicitly intended to run a particular script, such as \fBnpm start\fR, \fBnpm stop\fR, \fBnpm restart\fR, \fBnpm test\fR, and \fBnpm run\fR will still run their intended script if \fBignore-scripts\fR is set, but they will \fInot\fR run any pre- or post-scripts.108.SS "\fBworkspace\fR"109.RS 0110.IP \(bu 4111Default:112.IP \(bu 4113Type: String (can be set multiple times)114.RE 0115 116.P117Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of the current project while filtering by running only the workspaces defined by this configuration option.118.P119Valid values for the \fBworkspace\fR config are either:120.RS 0121.IP \(bu 4122Workspace names123.IP \(bu 4124Path to a workspace directory125.IP \(bu 4126Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all workspaces within that folder)127.RE 0128 129.P130When set for the \fBnpm init\fR command, this may be set to the folder of a workspace which does not yet exist, to create the folder and set it up as a brand new workspace within the project.131.P132This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.133.SS "\fBworkspaces\fR"134.RS 0135.IP \(bu 4136Default: null137.IP \(bu 4138Type: null or Boolean139.RE 0140 141.P142Set to true to run the command in the context of \fBall\fR configured workspaces.143.P144Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like \fBinstall\fR to ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:145.RS 0146.IP \(bu 4147Commands that operate on the \fBnode_modules\fR tree (install, update, etc.) will link workspaces into the \fBnode_modules\fR folder. - Commands that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the root project, \fIunless\fR one or more workspaces are specified in the \fBworkspace\fR config.148.RE 0149 150.P151This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.152.SS "\fBinclude-workspace-root\fR"153.RS 0154.IP \(bu 4155Default: false156.IP \(bu 4157Type: Boolean158.RE 0159 160.P161Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.162.P163When false, specifying individual workspaces via the \fBworkspace\fR config, or all workspaces via the \fBworkspaces\fR flag, will cause npm to operate only on the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.164.P165This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.166.SS "\fBinstall-links\fR"167.RS 0168.IP \(bu 4169Default: false170.IP \(bu 4171Type: Boolean172.RE 0173 174.P175When set file: protocol dependencies will be packed and installed as regular dependencies instead of creating a symlink. This option has no effect on workspaces.176.SS "See Also"177.RS 0178.IP \(bu 4179npm help uninstall180.IP \(bu 4181npm help folders182.IP \(bu 4183npm help ls184.RE 0185