Node can't find dependency after npm install

Question

I am new to Node.js and hitting this problem on my DigitalOcean VPS, where my web app (Ghost) complains it can't find specific modules even after I install it:

root@3fen:/var/www/ghost# sudo npm install -g ghost-gql
ghost-gql@0.0.2 /usr/local/lib/node_modules/ghost-gql
└── lodash@3.10.1

root@3fen:/var/www/ghost# node index.js
ERROR: Ghost is unable to start due to missing dependencies:
  Cannot find module 'ghost-gql'
  Cannot find module 'jsonpath'

Please run `npm install --production` and try starting Ghost again.
Help and documentation can be found at http://support.ghost.org.

I confirmed that both entries exist in package.json's dependencies block, and I also tried npm install --production, it executes silently and still get the same error.

Please point me if I am missing anything in the above steps. Thank you!

Can you try running node REPL and see if require('ghost-gql') and require('jsonpath') are working — prasun, Nov 09 '15 at 05:29
I think its failing on path - try this and see if REPL works :: export PATH="$(npm bin):$PATH" — prasun, Nov 09 '15 at 05:44
Did you try to link the node modules to your current project ? You are installing them globally , after that you'll need to link them to your project if you are require them in some node script . — Siddharth Sharma, Nov 09 '15 at 05:45
@prasun Just tried it but seems not working either: `root@3fen:/var/www/ghost# export PATH="$(npm bin):$PATH" root@3fen:/var/www/ghost# node > require("jsonpath") Error: Cannot find module 'jsonpath'` — Allan Jiang, Nov 09 '15 at 05:50
what folder path are you getting for "npm config get prefix" — prasun, Nov 09 '15 at 05:51
set your environment variable NODE_PATH to this path and should work — prasun, Nov 09 '15 at 06:02
@prasun you mean `export NODE_PATH="/usr/local"`? seems still not working even after this... :( — Allan Jiang, Nov 09 '15 at 06:08

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 09 '15 at 07:23

5

it looks like global npm path is not set in the environment variable NODE_PATH.

which needs to be the path as in npm config get prefix concatenated with node_modules

In your case

export NODE_PATH=/usr/local/node_modules

answered Nov 09 '15 at 07:23

prasun

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Node can't find dependency after npm install

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