Products · Product
npm
Raised as a usability problem by 104 people on Hacker News over 16 years (2011–2026), in 100 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
- 1
- 2
- 1
- 2
- 3Linked page doesn't explain what it isUnreviewed
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8Access is very slow over TorUnreviewed
Every issue, all time, most people first
Install behaves inconsistently with unexplained failuresUnreviewed
20112026- Installing a few dependencies creates thousands of files, making install and deletion slow2025-06-25
- Fixing broken installs requires guessing through long repeated trial-and-error steps2025-01-12
- Installs hang for minutes with no progress, then fail, and errors don't explain the cause2023-02-23
Old projects break on install due to unpredictable versionsUnreviewed
20112026- Package-lock file is hard to read and can't be trusted to match config2022-07-18
- Installed software breaks when a node_modules directory in its path is renamed2020-06-04
- Lock file doesn't pin transitive dependencies, so installs resolve to different versions unexpectedly2019-03-04
Linked page doesn't explain what it isUnreviewed
20112026- Npm and its ecosystem consistently fail to work, and its design is worse than peers2024-01-30
- NPM's interface is described as a garbage fire, without specifics2022-04-01
- Npm is buggy and needs much more than small tweaks2017-08-19
Package installs take hours with a huge node_modules treeUnreviewed
20112026- Deleting node_modules on Windows is painfully slow and chokes the system2023-03-21
- Hidden state forces deleting node_modules to get builds working again2020-03-13
- Wastes hours on package installs, with a huge node_modules tree2016-09-21
Install silently updates lockfile and docs don't say soUnreviewed
20112026- Using offline or locked installs with npm is basically unusable and impractical2025-11-24
- Npm install silently updates the lockfile, and the docs don't make this clear2025-09-18
- Unintuitive to know to use npm ci; corrupted lockfiles go unchecked and are hard to diagnose2022-03-31
Publishing multiple git-sourced versions takes much manual effortUnreviewed
20112026- Hard to tell which git revision matches a given npm release2018-01-06
- Npm treats identical git URLs as duplicates and can't work around a down git repo2014-07-02
- Publishing multiple git-sourced versions takes much more manual effort than npm2013-04-16
Access is very slow over TorUnreviewed
20112026- Searching on the npm website is very slow2026-02-14
- Npm is almost unusably slow resolving private git+ssh packages, making it hard to work with2022-10-16
- Npm access is so slow over Tor it is practically unusable2017-12-13
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Security controls make publishing packages painful and difficult, excluding many people2026-06-10
- Setting up OIDC publishing takes many steps and repeated 2FA prompts, causing frustration2026-04-03
- The option to restrict publishing to OIDC is hidden and on a confusing separate form2026-04-03
- Gets prompted to approve postinstall scripts for transitive dependencies it never directly chose2026-03-31
- Searching on the npm website is very slow2026-02-14
- Exact package name is not reliably the first search result2026-02-14
- Giant Maven error stack traces are hard to understand and act on2026-01-05
- Using offline or locked installs with npm is basically unusable and impractical2025-11-24
- Updating dependencies is very complex, and nested dependency versions are confusing to follow2025-11-24
- Npm install silently updates the lockfile, and the docs don't make this clear2025-09-18
- Npm audit fix downgrades packages and its error messages confuse junior developers2025-07-23
- Installing a few dependencies creates thousands of files, making install and deletion slow2025-06-25
- Instructions for installing a CLI from npm assumed deep Node packaging knowledge2025-01-29
- Fixing broken installs requires guessing through long repeated trial-and-error steps2025-01-12
- Website UX is confusing, making it hard to judge packages2024-08-07
- Website shows the wrong link for packages, confusing users and causing security risk2024-08-07
- Importing an external CSS stylesheet into JS needs a massive tool stack2024-06-20
- Npm and its ecosystem consistently fail to work, and its design is worse than peers2024-01-30
- Can't replace a bad package version right away; must bump version and wait 24 hours2024-01-05
- Private registry was hard to integrate into CI/CD pipeline and support needed Slack access2023-11-12
- User can't tell where installed packages went or which environment is in use2023-11-06
- Hidden log messages between emojis and promotional lines are hard to read2023-10-02
- Deleting node_modules on Windows is painfully slow and chokes the system2023-03-21
- Installs hang for minutes with no progress, then fail, and errors don't explain the cause2023-02-23
- Projects become unusable after months, requiring hours of repair to get working again2022-12-10
- Can't install multiple packages at once, and parallel install/remove spawns many processes2022-11-08
- Npm is almost unusably slow resolving private git+ssh packages, making it hard to work with2022-10-16
- Tools tie commands to the current directory, so user can't run their programs from anywhere2022-09-12
- Package-lock file is hard to read and can't be trusted to match config2022-07-18
- Installing a GitHub package takes around five minutes due to vulnerability checks2022-07-12
- Takes minutes to find where to place a dependency in a simple tree2022-07-05
- Too many choices and config files needed to set up a project2022-05-27
- Chart's purpose unclear, reader can't tell whether it is a timeline2022-05-10
- NPM's interface is described as a garbage fire, without specifics2022-04-01
- Unintuitive to know to use npm ci; corrupted lockfiles go unchecked and are hard to diagnose2022-03-31
- Package manager feels frustrating and does things wrong compared to Composer2022-01-11
- Cryptic error messages leave the user not knowing where to begin fixing2021-11-16
- Developer tools break when the Windows username path contains a space2021-11-11
- Markdown docs lack indents, margins and clear header styles, so the page is hard to parse2021-11-11
- Frontend projects can't be rebuilt weeks later because dependencies silently auto-update2021-11-06
- Hard to figure out how to enforce TLS 1.2+ client-side; unclear if the workaround applies2021-08-24
- Npm install silently changes package-lock.json, which seems counterintuitive and inscrutable2021-07-31
- Fixes default to the deepest dependency level, so npm times out and can't update them2021-07-07
- Spent an hour configuring npm and fighting version conflicts just to install a library2021-06-17
- Must manually reconfigure global package path on Linux for every project2021-01-31
- Setting up npm in containers or VMs requires many workarounds, such as --no-bin-links on Windows2020-06-10
- Installed software breaks when a node_modules directory in its path is renamed2020-06-04
- Audit summary shows a huge package count that users cannot interpret or trust2020-04-11
- Npm installs take 45-65 seconds even when libraries are already present2020-04-01
- Install behaves inconsistently with bizarre failures and interlocking bugs, no formal spec2020-03-16