npm install: Is there a way to ignore a particular dependency in package.json

That can be done using devDependencies

The npm modules which you require only to develop, e.g.: unit tests, Coffeescript to Javascript transpilation, minification etc,make the required module a devDependency.

To skip Installation of devDepenencies pass --production flag to npm install,with the --production flag(or NODE_ENV environment variable set to production) npm will not install modules listed in devDependencies.”

npm install --production

To make any module to be part of devDependencies pass –dev while installing.

npm install packagename --save-dev