--- title: This Feature Destroyed Modern Development #webdev #shorts description: A brief historical look at why npm switched from nested to flat node_modules in npm v3, and how that decision led to the creation of alternative package... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/this-feature-destroyed-modern-development-webdev-shorts-ihshnhqd5 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: This Feature Destroyed Modern Development #webdev #shorts | daily.dev og:description: A brief historical look at why npm switched from nested to flat node_modules in npm v3, and how that decision led to the creation of alternative package... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/this-feature-destroyed-modern-development-webdev-shorts-ihshnhqd5 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/IHShnhqD5.png og:image:alt: This Feature Destroyed Modern Development #webdev #shorts og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # This Feature Destroyed Modern Development #webdev #shorts **[devtools-fm](https://daily.dev/sources/devtoolsfm)** · 1 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A brief historical look at why npm switched from nested to flat node_modules in npm v3, and how that decision led to the creation of alternative package managers like pnpm. The nested structure caused Windows path length issues as dependency counts grew, prompting the flat hoisted layout — which in turn spawned tools using symlinked approaches. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Managing node\_modules efficiently with pnpm and Bun](https://daily.dev/posts/managing-node-modules-efficiently-with-pnpm-and-bun-26xxdqcfc) · Flavio Copes · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why npm Dependency Trees Are So Big](https://daily.dev/posts/why-npm-dependency-trees-are-so-big-dxeylgflr) · Andrew Nesbitt · 10 upvotes · 2 comments --- Tags: [#nodejs](https://daily.dev/tags/nodejs) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/this-feature-destroyed-modern-development-webdev-shorts-ihshnhqd5) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"This Feature Destroyed Modern Development #webdev #shorts","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/this-feature-destroyed-modern-development-webdev-shorts-ihshnhqd5","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/this-feature-destroyed-modern-development-webdev-shorts-ihshnhqd5"},"datePublished":"2026-07-04T15:04:05.252Z","dateModified":"2026-07-04T15:04:25.215Z","description":"A brief historical look at why npm switched from nested to flat node_modules in npm v3, and how that decision led to the creation of alternative package...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zfaRlvM33tA/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zfaRlvM33tA/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"devtools-fm","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"devtools-fm","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--yvUzE7NR--/f_auto/v1717745371/logos/devtoolsfm","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/devtoolsfm"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/this-feature-destroyed-modern-development-webdev-shorts-ihshnhqd5","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"nodejs","timeRequired":"PT1M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Feature Destroyed Modern Development #webdev #shorts","description":"A brief historical look at why npm switched from nested to flat node_modules in npm v3, and how that decision led to the creation of alternative package...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zfaRlvM33tA/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-07-04T15:04:05.252Z","duration":"PT1M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/IHShnhqD5","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/zfaRlvM33tA"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"devtools-fm","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/devtoolsfm"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"This Feature Destroyed Modern Development #webdev #shorts"}]} ```