Resolving npm install Issues with Private GitHub Repositories in GitHub Actions

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How to Fix npm install Failures with Private GitHub Repositories in GitHub Actions

The Problem: Understanding the Error

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With a GitHub Actions workflow similar to the following:

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Despite everything appearing to work on your local machine or in other environments, running npm ci in GitHub Actions results in an error. Why does the installation fail in this automated setting?

The issue arises because the authentication token from the actions/checkout step gets persisted. This persistence is handy when verifying access to your repository, but it can interfere with fetching npm dependencies from GitHub, especially for private repos, leading to the repository not being found.

The Solution: Fixing the Issue

To resolve the issue, we can instruct actions/checkout to opt-out of persisting the credentials. This can be easily accomplished by adding a configuration parameter. Here’s how you can do this:

Step-by-Step Instructions

Modify Your Checkout Step: Update your checkout step in your workflow YAML file to include the persist-credentials option set to false. Here’s what that looks like:

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Full Example Workflow: With the fix applied, your complete GitHub Actions workflow may look like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Conclusion

Should you have any further questions or encountered similar issues, feel free to share in the comments below! Happy coding!