Quick Start

Installation

npm install -g @flash-install/cli

Basic Usage

# Install dependencies
flash-install install

# Create a snapshot for faster future installs
flash-install snapshot

# Restore from a snapshot (ultra-fast)
flash-install restore

# Clean up
flash-install clean

Features

• ⚡ 30-50% faster than standard npm install
• 🔄 Deterministic caching for consistent builds
• 📦 Snapshot support for instant dependency restoration
• ☁️ Cloud caching for team sharing
• 🔌 Multiple package managers support (npm, yarn, pnpm, bun)
• 🏗️ Monorepo support with workspace detection
• 🔍 Fallback to npm if any issues occur

Command Reference

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | flash-install | Install dependencies (default) | | flash-install install | Install dependencies | | flash-install snapshot | Create a snapshot of node_modules | | flash-install restore | Restore node_modules from a snapshot | | flash-install clean | Remove node_modules and snapshot | | flash-install clean-modules | Remove only node_modules (preserves snapshot) | | flash-install clean-snapshot | Remove only snapshot (preserves node_modules) | | flash-install sync | Synchronize dependencies with lockfile |

Common Options

# Use offline mode
flash-install --offline

# Specify package manager
flash-install --package-manager yarn

# Skip dev dependencies
flash-install --no-dev

# Enable workspace support for monorepos
flash-install -w

Performance Comparison

| Scenario | npm install | flash-install | Speedup | |----------|------------|---------------|---------| | First install (small project) | 30-60s | 10-15s | 3-4x | | First install (large project) | 3-5min | 1-2min | 2-3x | | Subsequent install (from cache) | 30-60s | 5-10s | 6-10x | | Subsequent install (from snapshot) | 30-60s | 1-3s | 20-30x | | CI/CD environment | 1-3min | 5-15s | 10-20x |

Advanced Features

Cloud Caching

Share caches across your team or CI/CD environments:

flash-install --cloud-cache --cloud-provider=s3 --cloud-bucket=your-bucket-name

Workspace Support

Efficiently manage monorepo dependencies:

flash-install -w

Offline Development

Work without an internet connection:

# Create a snapshot while online
flash-install snapshot

# Later, restore dependencies while offline
flash-install restore --offline

Using Different Package Managers

# Use with Yarn
flash-install --package-manager yarn

# Use with PNPM
flash-install --package-manager pnpm

# Use with Bun
flash-install --package-manager bun

Additional Options

Here are some of the most useful options you can use with flash-install:

General Options

• --offline: Use offline mode (requires cache or snapshot)
• --no-cache: Disable cache usage
• --concurrency <number>: Number of concurrent installations
• --package-manager <manager>: Package manager to use (npm, yarn, pnpm, bun)
• --no-dev: Skip dev dependencies
• --verbose: Enable verbose logging
• --quiet: Suppress all output except errors

Workspace Options

• --workspace or -w: Enable workspace support for monorepos
• --workspace-filter <packages...>: Filter specific workspace packages

Cloud Options

• --cloud-cache: Enable cloud cache integration
• --cloud-provider <provider>: Cloud provider type (s3, azure, gcp)
• --cloud-bucket <name>: Cloud provider bucket name
• --cloud-region <region>: Cloud provider region

For a complete list of all available options, run:

flash-install --help

GitHub Actions Integration

Add Flash Install to your GitHub Actions workflow:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v3

  - name: Install dependencies with Flash Install
    uses: flash-install-cli/flash-install-action@v1
    with:
      # Optional parameters (shown with defaults)
      command: 'install'           # Command to run (install, restore, snapshot, clean)
      cache-enabled: 'true'        # Enable GitHub Actions caching
      package-manager: 'npm'       # Package manager to use (npm, yarn, pnpm, bun)
      concurrency: '4'             # Number of concurrent downloads

How It Works

1. Dependency Resolution: Parses lockfiles to determine exact dependencies
2. Workspace Detection: Identifies workspace packages in monorepos (when enabled)
3. Cache Check: Checks if dependencies are in the global cache
4. Snapshot Check: Checks if a valid .flashpack snapshot exists
5. Installation: If no cache or snapshot is available, installs dependencies using the package manager
6. Caching: Adds newly installed packages to the cache with optional compression
7. Snapshotting: Creates a .flashpack snapshot with fingerprinting for future use

Documentation

For more detailed documentation, see the docs directory:

• Performance Optimizations
• Monorepo Support
• Offline Mode
• Dependency Analysis
• Cloud Cache
• Enhanced Plugin System

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository at https://github.com/flash-install-cli/flash-install
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

MIT

Acknowledgements

• Inspired by the speed of Bun, the reliability of Yarn, and the efficiency of PNPM
• Thanks to all the open-source projects that made this possible