optimize-deps

Create a smaller node_modules directory for the JavaScript files your Node.js app actually uses.

npx optimize-deps src/main.js src/second.js src/mydir

optimize-deps accepts JavaScript files and directories. Files are verified before tracing. Directories are walked recursively and .js, .mjs, and .cjs files are added as entrypoints, while node_modules, .git, and the output directory are skipped.

The CLI uses @vercel/nft to trace runtime dependencies, then copies only traced root node_modules/* entries into node_modules_optimized.

Each run reports the approximate node_modules size before optimization, the optimized size after tracing, and the estimated savings:

Approx node_modules size: 10.4 MB before -> 1.4 MB after (saved 9.1 MB, 86.9%)

Options

optimize-deps [options] <js-file-or-directory...>

--replace                 Replace node_modules with the optimized output
--exports-only            Pass exportsOnly: true to @vercel/nft
--ignore <pattern>        Ignore pattern passed to @vercel/nft (repeatable)
--paths <alias=target>    Resolution path mapping passed to @vercel/nft (repeatable)
--output <dir>            Output directory (default: node_modules_optimized)
--dry-run                 Trace and report without writing files
--verbose                 Print entry files and NFT warnings

Examples:

optimize-deps src/main.js src/workers
optimize-deps --exports-only --ignore "node_modules/pkg/test/**" src/main.js
optimize-deps --paths "utils/=src/utils/" src/main.js
optimize-deps --replace src/main.js

With --replace, the existing node_modules directory is first moved to a temporary backup. The optimized directory is then renamed to node_modules, and the backup is deleted only after the rename succeeds.

In Docker/overlayfs builds, renaming a node_modules directory created in an earlier layer can fail with EXDEV: cross-device link not permitted. optimize-deps handles that by falling back to a copy-and-remove move that preserves file modes and symlinks.