The node_modules folder can grow very large and it's faster to download it independently of the actual code because it goes through the npm registry which is optimized for this kind of behaviour.
More importantly, certain packages build themselves upon installation. This building procedure is done differently depending on which OS you are using - especially when switching from Linux to Windows.
The node_modules folder can grow very large and it's faster to download it independently of the actual code because it goes through the npm registry which is optimized for this kind of behaviour.
More importantly, certain packages build themselves upon installation. This building procedure is done differently depending on which OS you are using - especially when switching from Linux to Windows.