How can I change the cache path for npm (or completely disable the cache) on Windows?

Question

How can I change the cache path for npm (or completely disable the cache) on Windows?

I've installed Node.js on my Windows 7 x64 development machine, the manual way:

mkdir C:\Devel\nodejs
cd C:\Devel\nodejs
set NODE_PATH=%CD%
setx /M PATH "%PATH%;%NODE_PATH%"
setx /M NODE_PATH "%NODE_PATH%\node_modules"

I've placed the main node x64 binary along with npm package manager in C:\Devel\nodejs. Works like a charm and I can update the main binary without dealing with the installer.

The only problem I can't solve is moving the cache folder. When I install a local package:

npm install express

... cache is placed under %APP_DATA%\npm-cache folder. I'd like to change it to:

C:\Devel\nodejs\npm-cache

How can I change the npm cache folder, or disable it completely?

node.js
npm

Answer 1

You can change npm cache folder using the npm command line. (see : https://npmjs.org/doc/config.html and more specifically https://www.npmjs.org/doc/misc/npm-config.html)

So you might want to try this command :

> npm config set cache C:\Devel\nodejs\npm-cache --global