Feature request: Skip npm install #7847

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1. tapz

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   type/featureFeature requestFeature request

   on Jan 24, 2025
2. roger-zhangg commented on Jan 24, 2025

   

   roger-zhangg

   on Jan 24, 2025

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   Hi tapz, thanks for reaching out, do you mind explain the issue you have a bit more?

   From what I perceive, if want to use esbuild in sam build, you can refer to this doc for using esbuild for sam build: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/serverless-application-model/latest/developerguide/serverless-sam-cli-using-build-typescript.html

   And if esbuild is handling all the build, you can even skip the sam build and directly use the built assets for deploy or sync command.

   Please let me know,
   Thanks
3. roger-zhangg

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   on Jan 24, 2025
4. tapz commented on Jan 25, 2025

   

   tapz

   on Jan 25, 2025

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   I first use custom pre build scripts, which use esbuild. The in the SAM templates I use makesfiles to copy lambda source files. So no need for SAM build to install dependencies when build is already done and files copied.
5. vicheey commented on Feb 17, 2025

   

   vicheey

   on Feb 17, 2025

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   Thank you for the additional information. Let's keep this issue open to collect more feedback and support from our community. We will prioritize the feature accordingly.

   😕React with 😕1Reacted by Lays Dragon
6. rev42 commented on Apr 8, 2025

   

   rev42

   on Apr 8, 2025

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   I'm in the same situation as @tapz

   We are in a monorepo as well.

   Context:
   Our nodejs lambda already has its own npm run build command and is deployed using gitlab.
   We wanted to plug AWS SAM to be able to test locally and to let developers deploy their own version of the service on our dev environment. However we did not want to change our current deployment pipeline to avoid a hard dependency with AWS SAM.

   To achieve this goal, we had to add to the template.yaml:

       Metadata:
         BuildMethod: makefile
   

   and in the makefile

   build-ourLambdaFunction:
           # Purpose: have the same build system for AWS SAM and Gitlab CI/CD
   	npm run build
   	cp ./dist/* $(ARTIFACTS_DIR)
   

   I wanted to add the launch.json file at the root of the monorepo to be able to debug the lambda with breakpoints. When running it, it actually executes:

   2025-04-08 14:43:00.067 [info] Command: (not started) [/usr/local/bin/sam build --build-dir /tmp/aws-toolkit-vscode/vsctke35b9267/output --template /tmp/aws-toolkit-vscode/vsctke35b9267/app___vsctk___template.yaml --base-dir /home/node/lambdas/my-validator]
   2025-04-08 14:43:00.700 [info] Building codeuri: /home/node/lambdas/my-validator runtime: nodejs20.x architecture: x86_64 functions: myvalidator
   2025-04-08 14:43:00.748 [info] Running NodejsNpmBuilder:NpmPack
   2025-04-08 14:43:10.844 [info] Running NodejsNpmBuilder:CopyNpmrcAndLockfile
   2025-04-08 14:43:10.845 [info] Running NodejsNpmBuilder:CopySource
   2025-04-08 14:43:10.848 [info] Running NodejsNpmBuilder:NpmInstall
   2025-04-08 14:44:40.854 [error] SamLaunchRequestError: "sam build" failed. Timed out waiting for build. [BuildFailure]
   

   The build is failing.
7. bnusunny commented on Sep 27, 2026

   

   bnusunny

   on Sep 27, 2026

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   Closing this as a duplicate of #6567, which tracks the same request — a way to stop sam build from installing/updating dependencies when the project already manages them — and now carries a reproduction and the analysis of where the build time actually goes.

   @tapz @rev42 the relevant findings for your setups, in short:

   • In a monorepo the nodejs install step resolves up to the workspace root, so the work is root-scoped and is repeated once per function. npm's cache does not help, because the cost is tree reconciliation rather than downloads.
   • With --build-in-source the install runs with --no-package-lock, so it ignores your lockfile and can silently change dependency versions in your source tree during a build. That part is a defect and I am preparing a fix in aws-lambda-builders.
   • sam build --cached cannot currently skip the install under --build-in-source — the internal "dependencies unchanged" path is unreachable in that mode. Fixing that is the change that gets monorepo builds fast without any new flag.
   • The explicit opt-out you are both asking for is still on the table and tracked in Feature request: Skip NodejsNpmEsbuildBuilder:NpmUpdate step when using --build-in-source in a js/ts "monorepo" #6567, point 3.

   Please follow #6567 and add your use case there if it differs from what is described — a single thread is easier for us to prioritise than two.
8. bnusunny

   closed this as a duplicateof Feature request: Skip NodejsNpmEsbuildBuilder:NpmUpdate step when using --build-in-source in a js/ts "monorepo" #6567 on Sep 27, 2026
9. github-actions commented on Sep 27, 2026

   

   github-actionsBot

   on Sep 27, 2026 – with GitHub Actions

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