How to remove node_modules after they have been added to a repo

remove-node-modules.md

How to remove node_modules

Create a .gitignore file

1. Check for an existing .gitignore file in the project directory

ls -a

2. If your project directory has a .gitingore file - skip to step 3. Otherwise, continue with:

Create a .gitignore file in the git repository

touch .gitignore

Remove the node_modules directory

3. Open up the .gitignore and add the following line to the file

**/node_modules

4. Remove the node_modules folder from the git repository

git rm -r --cached node_modules

Commit All Changes

5. Commit the git repository without the node_modules folder

git commit -m "Removed node_modules folder"

6. Push the change to the remote repo

git push origin main

7. Commit the .gitignore file

git add .gitignore
git commit -m "Updated the .gitignore file"
git push origin main

Thanks for the help!

Thank you so much !

Don't we have to edit **/node_modules back to node_modules inside .gitignore file?

Don't we have to edit **/node_modules back to node_modules inside .gitignore file?

@BekzodIsakov A leading **/ in a .gitignore file will allow files and folders to be ignored in the current or any descendant directory rather than just the current directory. This is useful in apps with separate packages for the client & server, for example.

If I have a directory structure like

• .gitignore
• client
  • node_modules
• server
  • node_modules

The **/node_modules will still ignore the node_modules folder.

The **/ is not necessary if only the node_modules folder will be at the same level as the .gitignore file.

I got it. Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks, that was helpful.

thanks thats very helpful, my brain ass just push everything without looking what i push until i push node_modules LOL

thanks thats very helpful, my brain ass just push everything without looking what i push until i push node_modules LOL
jijij I did the same. thanks a lot!

Thanks!

omg timeless post already

you are the best! saved me a lot of time!!! thanks)))

thanks, tried chatGPT,, but fucker got me sidetracked, this helped

Thanks for this.

Thanks for this, very helpful!

❤️

thanks man, this is work in my machine :)

Thanks its working

Thanks for this, very helpful

thanks 💯

Just perfect! Thank you.

👍

thanks !!! 😄

thanks, it's very helpful.

Thanks!

I just lost 2 weeks of updates by doing this, thanks

@NYOGamesCOM The ways that I know that updates could have been lost are:

• Not entering the commands as written in the gist
• Having updates in the node_modules folder. This is inadvisable as updating packages would have also resulted in the lost changes, and node_modules are not to be committed to git. The point of this gist is to remove the node_modules folder from git. It assumes this is the intended action, and these files have not been touched except through package management.

Can you provide more details? If there is an issue I'm missing, I certainly want to update the instructions.

Those changes may also be available in the git commit history. The above commands do not alter the commit history.

Thanks, that was really helpful.

Still helping in 2024. Thank you!

Thank you so much!