I’m trying to install a package using npm but it seems to be stuck. The installation process just hangs there with the spinner going around and around. I’ve been waiting for quite a while now but nothing happens.
I want to figure out what’s causing this issue. Is there a way to check npm logs to see what’s going wrong during the installation? If npm creates log files somewhere, where exactly are they stored on my system?
I need to understand what’s blocking the installation so I can fix it. Any help with finding these log files would be great.
run npm config get cache to find your npm cache location - that’s where the logs usually are. also, check your project folder for npm-debug.log after it fails, it’ll show what went wrong.
When npm installations encounter issues, it’s important to check the log files to identify the problem. These files can typically be found at C:\Users\[username]\.npm\_logs\ on Windows systems or ~/.npm/_logs/ for Mac and Linux. Look for the most recent logs, as they contain timestamps to help you find the relevant entry. Additionally, running npm install --verbose or npm install --silly provides real-time output which can help diagnose network issues or other installation blocks.
Had this exact problem last month - drove me nuts. Don’t bother hunting for log files. Kill the npm process with Ctrl+C, then run npm cache clean --force to clear corrupted cache. Next, use npm install --loglevel verbose to see exactly where it hangs in real time. Mine was stuck on a dependency with network timeouts. Verbose output showed me the problem package instantly and saved hours of digging.