Can I omit node_modules from Azure mobile services repo?

Question

I'm writing an Windows Azure Mobile Services background job. If I use node.js modules other than the defaults provided by Azure, can I omit the node_modules folder when committing to my Azure git repo if I have a root package.json? Will Azure download those packages automatically?

Update: For clarification, I have the following repo (sorry, this is from memory, don't have it in front of me)

> <root repo dir>    
>     \service
>       \api
>       \scheduler
>          \node_modules
>            \npmmodule1
>            \npmmodule2 .. etc
>          package.json <-- generated with npm init
>          myJob.js

I'm asking if the following is sufficient for commit and deploy

> <root repo dir>    
>   \service
>       \api
>       \scheduler
>          package.json <-- generated with npminit
>          myJob.js

Answer 1

No. Currently, Azure Mobile Services does not pull the any modules from NPM based on the presence of a package.json file. You need to npm install the modules in your local Git clone, git add the node_modules folder in your repository and push the changes to the server.

Supporting npm package restore (via package.json) is a feature which is in the backlog to be implemented. I'd suggest you create a feature request on the Azure Mobile Services UserVoice, so it can be prioritized accordingly.