Important: This documentation covers Yarn 1 (Classic).
For Yarn 2+ docs and migration guide, see yarnpkg.com.

yarn install

yarn install is used to install all dependencies for a project. This is most commonly used when you have just checked out code for a project, or when another developer on the project has added a new dependency that you need to pick up.

If you are used to using npm you might be expecting to use --save or --save-dev. These have been replaced by yarn add and yarn add --dev. For more information, see the yarn add documentation.

Running yarn with no command will run yarn install, passing through any provided flags.

If you need reproducible dependencies, which is usually the case with the continuous integration systems, you should pass --frozen-lockfile flag.

yarn install

Install all the dependencies listed within package.json in the local node_modules folder.

The yarn.lock file is utilized as follows:

  • If yarn.lock is present and is enough to satisfy all the dependencies listed in package.json, the exact versions recorded in yarn.lock are installed, and yarn.lock will be unchanged. Yarn will not check for newer versions.
  • If yarn.lock is absent, or is not enough to satisfy all the dependencies listed in package.json (for example, if you manually add a dependency to package.json), Yarn looks for the newest versions available that satisfy the constraints in package.json. The results are written to yarn.lock.

If you want to ensure yarn.lock is not updated, use --frozen-lockfile.

yarn install --check-files

Verifies that already installed files in node_modules did not get removed.

yarn install --flat

Install all the dependencies, but only allow one version for each package. On the first run this will prompt you to choose a single version for each package that is depended on at multiple version ranges. These will be added to your package.json under a resolutions field.

"resolutions": {
  "package-a": "2.0.0",
  "package-b": "5.0.0",
  "package-c": "1.5.2"
}
yarn install --force

This refetches all packages, even ones that were previously installed.

yarn install --har

Outputs an HTTP archive from all the network requests performed during the installation. HAR files are commonly used to investigate network performance, and can be analyzed with tools such as Google’s HAR Analyzer or HAR Viewer.

yarn install --ignore-scripts

Do not execute any scripts defined in the project package.json and its dependencies.

yarn install --modules-folder <path>

Specifies an alternate location for the node_modules directory, instead of the default ./node_modules.

yarn install --no-lockfile

Don’t read or generate a yarn.lock lockfile.

yarn install --production[=true|false]

Yarn will not install any package listed in devDependencies if the NODE_ENV environment variable is set to production. Use this flag to instruct Yarn to ignore NODE_ENV and take its production-or-not status from this flag instead.

Notes: --production is the same as --production=true. --prod is an alias of --production.

yarn install --pure-lockfile

Don’t generate a yarn.lock lockfile.

yarn install --focus

Shallowly installs a package’s sibling workspace dependencies underneath its node_modules folder. This allows you to run that workspace without building the other workspaces it depends on.

Must be run inside an individual workspace in a workspaces project. Can not be run in a non-workspaces project or at the root of a workspaces project.

Learn more about focused workspaces.

yarn install --frozen-lockfile

Don’t generate a yarn.lock lockfile and fail if an update is needed.

yarn install --silent

Run yarn install without printing installation log.

yarn install --ignore-engines

Ignore engines check.

yarn install --ignore-optional

Don’t install optional dependencies.

yarn install --offline

Run yarn install in offline mode.

yarn install --non-interactive

Disable interactive prompts, like when there’s an invalid version of a dependency.

yarn install --update-checksums

Update checksums in the yarn.lock lockfile if there’s a mismatch between them and their package’s checksum.

yarn install --audit

Checks for known security issues with the installed packages. A count of found issues will be added to the output. Use the yarn audit command for additional details. Unlike npm, which automatically runs an audit on every install, yarn will only do so when requested. (This may change in a later update as the feature is proven to be stable.)

Prevent yarn from creating symlinks for any binaries the package might contain.

Create hardlinks to the repeated modules in node_modules.

yarn install --verbose

Show additional logs while installing dependencies