[BUG] npm exec / npx forwards persistent user-level allow-scripts to children as npm_config_allow_scripts, failing project-scoped installs in the child (EALLOWSCRIPTS)

[techaboo]

Summary

Setting allow-scripts in a user .npmrc (which npm's own warning recommends for global installs, and which is a valid config source for project installs) makes any tool launched via npx/npm exec that shells out to a project-scoped npm install fail with:

npm error code EALLOWSCRIPTS
npm error --allow-scripts is not allowed in project-scoped installs. Add the entries to the "allowScripts" field in package.json, or to .npmrc, instead.

npm exec exports the resolved npm config into the child process's environment as npm_config_* variables. Because the outer process read allow-scripts from a user .npmrc, the launched tool (and anything it spawns) inherits npm_config_allow_scripts, and when it reaches an inner project-scoped npm install, that inner npm resolves the value via its env source — which resolveAllowScripts groups with cli and rejects for non-global installs. The user never passed --allow-scripts; the value lives exactly where the error message tells them to put it.

This is the npm exec sibling of #9783 (git-dependency preparation) and #9912/#9913 (npm run-script lifecycle export). The #9913 fix keeps persistent allow-scripts out of lifecycle-exported config; the npm exec child env export still forwards it (verified on 12.0.2 below).

Environment

• npm: 11.17.0 (full repro) and 12.0.2 (exec forwarding and EALLOWSCRIPTS both independently verified)
• node: v24.19.0
• OS: Windows 11 (Git Bash); the config/export mechanics are platform-independent

How the offending setting gets there

Same as #9783 / #9912 — the documented workflow. Installing a global package with an install script prints:

npm warn allow-scripts <pkg>@x.y.z (postinstall: node install.js)
npm warn allow-scripts Run `npm install -g --allow-scripts=<pkg>` to allow these scripts once, or `npm config set allow-scripts=<pkg> --location=user` to allow them for all global installs.

Following the second suggestion writes allow-scripts=<pkg> to the user .npmrc. From then on, every npx-launched tool that performs project-scoped npm installs fails.

Minimal, self-contained reproduction

Isolated --userconfig so the reporter's own .npmrc is not involved:

R=$(mktemp -d)
echo "allow-scripts=whatever" > "$R/userrc"   # exactly as `npm config set allow-scripts=... --location=user` writes it
mkdir "$R/app" && cd "$R/app"
echo '{"name":"app","private":true}' > package.json

# (A) Direct project-scoped install with the same user config — works
npm install is-even --userconfig "$R/userrc"

# (B) Same install reached through npx — fails
npx -y --userconfig "$R/userrc" -c 'npm install is-even'

Actual result (B)

npm error code EALLOWSCRIPTS
npm error --allow-scripts is not allowed in project-scoped installs. Add the entries to the "allowScripts" field in package.json, or to .npmrc, instead.

Export proof

npx -y --userconfig "$R/userrc" -c 'node -e "console.log(process.env.npm_config_allow_scripts)"'
# → whatever

On npm 12.0.2: npm exec still sets npm_config_allow_scripts in the child environment, and an inner install with that variable present fails with the same EALLOWSCRIPTS error.

Real-world impact

npx @robzolkos/lazypi — a community installer for the Pi coding agent that shells out to pi install, which runs npm install <pkg> --prefix <pi-dir> --legacy-peer-deps for each package — fails on all 23 npm-backed packages at once with this error on any machine whose user .npmrc carries the recommended allow-scripts entry. The same applies to any scaffolder/bootstrap tool driven via npx that runs nested project-scoped npm installs. Notably, running the identical installer from a global install (plain Node child, no npm exec env) works fine, which makes this particularly confusing to debug.

Expected result

The npx-launched tool's inner install completes. A persistent user-level allow-scripts policy is not a command-line flag; npm exec should not convert it into one by exporting it into the child environment.

Root cause (source pointers)

• lib/utils/resolve-allow-scripts.js — policyFromSources(npm, ['cli', 'env']) groups the env source with cli; a non-global, non-skipProjectConfig install throws EALLOWSCRIPTS when that layer has a policy.
• npm exec exports resolved config (including user .npmrc values such as allow-scripts) to the child process as npm_config_*. fix(config): avoid exporting persistent allow-scripts #9913 excluded allow-scripts from lifecycle exports; the exec path's export still includes it.

Suggested fixes

1. (Preferred) Apply the fix(config): avoid exporting persistent allow-scripts #9913 treatment to the npm exec child environment: keep persistent allow-scripts policy out of exec-exported config, so nested npm commands reload it from its original config source instead of treating it as an environment override.
2. Alternatively, strip npm_config_allow_scripts from the child env in npm exec — it is a one-off/global-context flag by design, so there is no valid exec-child use for it.
3. At minimum, fix the error message for the env-inherited case: telling the user to "add the entries to .npmrc" sends them in a circle — the entry already is in .npmrc.

Related

• [BUG] A user/global .npmrc allow-scripts setting is forwarded to git-dependency preparation as an env-layer policy and fails the install with EALLOWSCRIPTS #9783 — same misclassification, reached via git-dependency preparation's inner install (open)
• [BUG] A user/local .npmrc allow-scripts setting is forwarded to an inner npm install spawned by npm run-script and fails with EALLOWSCRIPTS #9912 / fix(config): avoid exporting persistent allow-scripts #9913 — same via npm run-script lifecycle export; fixed for lifecycle exports only
• RFC [RFC] Make install scripts opt-in rfcs#868

Workaround

Tools/launchers: don't reach the tool through npm exec (a globally installed copy runs with a clean environment and works). End users: keep allow-scripts out of persistent user config and pass it per-invocation for global installs only (npm install -g <pkg> --allow-scripts=<pkg>), or move the policy into each project's own package.json allowScripts field.