Grunt - npm module not found

Question

I'm new to Grunt and I'm having trouble setting up a project with new plugins.

So far I have:

installed grunt-cli globally
installed grunt-init globally
downloaded the gruntfile template from the GIT repository
created a new directory 'test' and navigated to the directory in Terminal
created a new grunt project from the template (grunt-init gruntfile)
installed the project dependencies (npm install)

This all works great, however I want to use a different uglify plugin so, still in the 'test' directory, I run:

npm install uglify-js --save-dev

As I'm not using the global flag, the plugin downloads to test/node_modules directory as expected, existing at test/node_modules/uglify-js. The package.json file has been updated with the additional dependency:

"uglify-js": "^2.4.15"

I then edit Gruntfile.js, adding

grunt.loadNpmTasks('uglify-js');

And change

grunt.registerTask('default', ['jshint', 'qunit', 'concat', 'uglify']);

To

grunt.registerTask('default', ['concat', 'uglify-js']);

I run

npm install

to ensure all dependencies are downloaded, but now when I run the grunt task I get this error:

Local Npm module "uglify-js" not found. Is it installed? Warning: Task "uglify-js" not found. Use --force to continue.

Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Mac OS X 10.8.5, Node v0.10.32

Rodrigo Medeiros · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-24 13:16:25Z

2

If you want to use UglifyJS whit grunt, you should use grunt-contrib-uglify. Install it with:

npm install grunt-contrib-uglify --save-dev

enable it inside your Gruntfile.js:

grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-uglify');

and run your task:

grunt uglify

See the docs for more information.

answered Sep 24, 2014 at 13:16

Rodrigo Medeiros

7,8724 gold badges45 silver badges55 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Terry Stephens Over a year ago

I should have specified that the grunt-contrib-uglify plugin is included with the gruntfile template. I was under the impression that an option I was passing in (compress: {drop_console: true}) was not working, when in fact it was… My original question is more theoretical now - was grunt complaining because the uglify-js module is a generic Node module, not a Grunt plugin?

Rodrigo Medeiros Over a year ago

Yes @Terry. When you want to automate the use of a npm module with grunt.js, it's desirable that you use (or write your own if it doesn't exists) a plugin. Maybe you could use an npm module without a plugin, but you would have to do a lot of unnecessary configuration, which is already done by the plugin. I've never tried that.

MAhsan · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-01 00:50:23Z

I had a similar issue on windows 7. I resolved this issue by creating a package.json with the below modules.

"grunt": "~0.4.5", "grunt-contrib-jshint": "~0.10.0", "grunt-contrib-nodeunit": "~0.4.1", "grunt-contrib-uglify": "~0.5.0"

Ran npm install and it started working within that directory.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Grunt - npm module not found

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

Comments

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

Comments

Related