How can I deploy node modules in a Meteor app on meteor.com?

Question

I have an application that uses the node twit module that is available via

npm install twit

I deployed the node module locally from .m

Answer 1

This code worked for me with meteor 0.8.x and node_modules being installed in ./public of my app:

var path = Npm.require('path')
var fs = Npm.require('fs')
var base = path.resolve('.')
var isBundle = fs.existsSync(base + '/bundle')
var modulePath = base + (isBundle ? '/bundle/static' : '/../client/app') + '/node_modules/'

var twit  = Npm.require(modulePath+'rssparser')

It may also be a good idea to create packages.json file within ./public for easier updates/installs through npm.

Long live Meteor!

Answer 2

You

base = base + "/bundle"

to get this to work.

Answer 3

finally, I wrote like this. it works both in local and meteor sever. thx Ian :D

install npm module inside "app/public":

    app/public# npm install MODULE_NAME

inside app/server/server.js:

Meteor.startup(function () {
    var require = __meteor_bootstrap__.require;
    var path = require('path');
    var base = path.resolve('.');
    var isBundle = path.existsSync(base + '/bundle');
    var modulePath = base + (isBundle ? '/bundle/static' : '/public') + '/node_modules';

    var MODULE_NAME = require(modulePath + '/MODULE_NAME');
});

Answer 4

Just spent a half hour figuring out the "install npm module inside app/public step and thought I'd save the next person some time. From your app's home directory:

cd public
mkdir node_modules
npm install foo

By default, npm install foo installs "locally," but if there's no node_modules folder in your current directory then it moves up the directory tree looking for one. I was ending up with the package installing in $HOME/node_modules/foo instead of the local project. Fine for localhost, but not so much for deployment.

(Thanks to npm install locally for solving my root problem.)

Answer 5

Changed:

var modulePath = base + (isBundle ? '/bundle/static' : '/../client/app') + '/node_modules/'

to:

var modulePath = base + (isBundle ? '/bundle/static' : '/../web.browser/app') + '/node_modules/'

Answer 6

As of Meteor 6.0, now we need to use Npm.require() instead. Additionally, we need to declare the module as global variables, since Meteor now has file-level scope.

  var path = Npm.require('path');
  var fs = Npm.require('fs');
  var base = path.resolve('.');
  var isBundle = fs.existsSync(base + '/bundle');
  var modulePath = base + (isBundle ? '/bundle/static' : '/public') + '/node_modules';
  MODULE_NAME = Npm.require(modulePath + '/MODULE_NAME'); // NOTE, this is going to be a global variable