[BUG] Problems with npm install in docker

[dioubernardo]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• [x] I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• [x] I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

Simple test application generated with npm init and npm install

I've already tried with node:24 node:22 node:18, I noticed that if I remove express from dependencies the error stops, I don't know if it's because nothing needs to be installed or if the problem is in express

I've tried with and without --no-update-notifier

{
"name": "psvo",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "SPA Example",
"license": "ISC",
"author": "",
"type": "module",
"main": "index.js",
"scripts": {
},
"dependencies": {
"express": "^5.1.0"
}
}

In Dockerfile

FROM node:22-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json .
RUN npm install --no-update-notifier
EXPOSE 80
CMD ["npm", "start"]

In docker compose

services:

  psvo-dev:
    container_name: psvo-dev
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /app/node_modules

When running docker compose build, npm install runs for a few minutes and issues the following error:

usuario@server:~/ecosistema1/services/psvo$ docker compose build
[+] Building 148.2s (9/9) FINISHED
 => [internal] load local bake definitions                                                                                                                         0.0s
 => => reading from stdin 537B                                                                                                                                     0.0s
 => [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile                                                                                                           0.0s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 207B                                                                                                                               0.0s
 => [internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/node:22-alpine                                                                                                  0.0s
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                                                                                                  0.0s
 => => transferring context: 2B                                                                                                                                    0.0s
 => [1/4] FROM docker.io/library/node:22-alpine                                                                                                                    0.0s
 => [internal] load build context                                                                                                                                  0.0s
 => => transferring context: 72B                                                                                                                                   0.0s
 => CACHED [2/4] WORKDIR /app                                                                                                                                      0.0s
 => [3/4] COPY package*.json .                                                                                                                                     0.2s
 => ERROR [4/4] RUN npm install --no-update-notifier                                                                                                             147.2s
------
 > [4/4] RUN npm install --no-update-notifier:
146.5 npm error Exit handler never called!
146.5 npm error This is an error with npm itself. Please report this error at:
146.5 npm error   <https://github.com/npm/cli/issues>
146.5 npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /root/.npm/_logs/2025-09-16T16_05_37_926Z-debug-0.log
------
Dockerfile:7
--------------------

failed to solve: process "/bin/sh -c npm install --no-update-notifier" did not complete successfully: exit code: 1

[dioubernardo]

• I tested with and without the node_modules volume
• I tested with and without --no-update-notifier

What I know now:

• If I comment out RUN npm install and run the build, it works. After that, I run the container and run npm install inside the container, and it works!

• For RUN npm install to work, I needed to define the /etc/docker/daemon.json file.

$ cat /etc/docker/daemon.json
{
"dns": ["1.1.1.1", "1.0.0.1"]
}

I'm using Ubuntu 24.04 with a minimized installation + Docker installed via curl as described at https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/