How to optimize disk space Node.js Modules Across Multiple Projects

Today I’ll guide you through a method to optimize disk space with node projects. I got a problem with disk space when working on a lot of NodeJS, and ReactJS repositories ( more than 30 lambdas repos node js, 3 repo ReactJS with ) for each project the node_modules size up to 500MB ) ~ 33 * 500MB ~ 16.5 GB (ಥ﹏ಥ). I tried to review again the repositories and I realized that all repos are using a common library (lodash, webpack, jest, mocha….). I found a lot of different ways on the network and StackOverflow however I got a big deal with pnpn the size of the package optimized up to 70%.

Photo by Marc PEZIN on Unsplash

About the pnpm Fast, disk space efficient package manager:

• Fast. Up to 2x faster than the alternatives (see benchmark).
• Efficient. Files inside node_modules are linked from a single content-addressable storage.
• Great for monorepos.
• Strict. A package can access only dependencies that are specified in its package.json.
• Deterministic. Has a lockfile called pnpm-lock.yaml.
• Works as a Node.js version manager. See pnpm env use.
• Works everywhere. Supports Windows, Linux, and macOS.
• Battle-tested. Used in production by teams of all sizes since 2016.
• See the full feature comparison with npm and Yarn.

Step 1: Install pnpm package (using npm)

Refer to the installation: https://pnpm.io/installation

(base) haithai@FVFY201CHV2H SafetyCheckManagementUI % npm install -g pnpm
/Users/haithai/.nvm/versions/node/v14.9.0/bin/pnpm -> /Users/haithai/.nvm/versions/node/v14.9.0/lib/node_modules/pnpm/bin/pnpm.cjs
/Users/haithai/.nvm/versions/node/v14.9.0/bin/pnpx -> /Users/haithai/.nvm/versions/node/v14.9.0/lib/node_modules/pnpm/bin/pnpx.cjs
+ pnpm@7.17.0
added 1 package in 1.752s

Step 2: Install the dependencies & devDependecies

The scenario is Project A vs Project B we have a lot of the same packages

Project A

Packages are hard linked from the content-addressable store to the virtual store.
  Content-addressable store is at: /Users/haithai/Library/pnpm/store/v3
  Virtual store is at:             node_modules/.pnpm
Progress: resolved 1766, reused 0, downloaded 1766, added 1868, done

For project A — this is the first repo we run the install with pnpm so it doesn’t reuse any existing package from the node_modules root

So we have 1766 packages added with 0 resued package

Project B

Packages are hard linked from the content-addressable store to the virtual store.
  Content-addressable store is at: /Users/haithai/Library/pnpm/store/v3
  Virtual store is at:             node_modules/.pnpm
Progress: resolved 2120, reused 1746, downloaded 374, added 2225, done