npm install not creating a new package-lock.json

I accidentally deleted my package-lock.json file. npm install is not generating a new one. How do I get npm to recreate this file.

There might be a file called .npmrc which can contain

package-lock=false

which will cause the package lock file to not be generated.

In theory you could also have turned on npm config set package-lock false globally (change to true to turn on again), but that's less likely to happen unintentionally.

The package-lock.json file was introduced in npm v5, so the steps you need to take to regenerate package-lock.json depend on which version of npm you're using.

FYI. Let's verify what version of node and npm.

npm -v

prints: x.x.x

node -v

prints: x.x.x

I believe for package-lock.json is auto-generated if the 2 conditions npm version > 5.x.x and node version > 7.x.x are met

Then, try the following steps depending on which version you have:

npm v5+:

Regenerate the package-lock.json by running npm install. You may also regenerate the file without actually downloading dependencies by using npm install --package-lock-only

npm v4.x & earlier:

1. Generate a npm-shrinkwrap.json by running npm shrinkwrap. This file has the same format as package-lock.json and achieves essentially the same purpose in earlier versions of npm (see https://docs.npmjs.com/files/package-lock.json and https://docs.npmjs.com/files/shrinkwrap.json for detailed information on this point)
2. Rename the npm-shrinkwrap.json to package-lock.json

To resolve this issue I have tried below mentioned things and it worked for me :

Make sure your package-lock globally enabled, you can enable it using:

npm config set package-lock true

To make sure your .npmrc is not blocking the creation of package-lock file, set this to your .npmrc

echo 'package-lock=true' >> .npmrc

note: package-lock.json is automatically generated for any operations where npm modifies either the node_modules tree, or package.json for npm -v > 5.x.x.

check your npm version: npm -v

update your npm to latest version using:

npm install -g npm@latest

npm i -g npm-upgrade

@will

I was also facing the same issue

I just removed the package-lock=false from .npmrc and now it is creating the lock file

If your npm version is <5 you will have a shrinkwrap.json file created when running npm install.

Otherwise package-lock will be created on npm versions 5 and above.