eb-fix-npm

This module installs an .ebextensions config file that will fix npm in various ways in AWS Elastic Beanstalk to make your deploys faster and more reliable.

TL;DR This module makes it possible to upgrade from Node 4 to Node 6 on Elastic Beanstalk and speeds up npm install by 95%.

Looking for even bigger savings? You might consider disabling npm altogether. Mixmax no longer uses this module, though we will answer support questions to the best of our ability as well as accept others' PRs.

This module works by installing deployment hooks that perform setup and cleanup related to Elastic Beanstalk's use of npm:

• Downgrade npm to npm 2 because npm 3 is too slow to install packages for EB (deploys will time out)
• Cache Node modules between deploys
• Only install (don't rebuild) Node modules on application deploy
• Only rebuild (don't install) Node modules on configuration deploy (EB's script tries to both install and rebuild)
• Actually rebuild Node modules on configuration deploy (EB's script uses the the wrong directory and so just aborts)
• Remove npm temp files leftover by installing from shrinkwrap

The hooks expect that your Elastic Beanstalk application is using either platform version 3.1.0 or the previous version, version 2.1.3. It may work with newer versions—if it does not, PRs are welcome!

Installation

1. npm install eb-fix-npm --save-dev (see here for why --save-dev)
2. Commit the .ebextensions file it creates.
3. Deploy.

Modifying the .ebextensions file

This module will overwrite the file if/when it is updated.

Pull requests are welcome if you have some generally-useful modifications to suggest.

If you'd like to make modifications specific to your use case, you should uninstall this module after installing the .ebextensions file. Uninstallation won't take the file with it.

Acknowledgements

Some of the hooks are based on logic from https://github.com/kopurando/better-faster-elastic-beanstalk.

Release History

• 1.2.5 Use the runtime Node version
• 1.2.4 Set proper home directory
• 1.2.3 Fix rebuild directory
• 1.2.2 Misc fixes
• 1.2.1 Use user's environment variables with npm
• 1.2.0 Avoid unnecessarily installing/rebuilding Node modules
• 1.1.0 Cache Node modules between deploys
• 1.0.0 Initial commit