[SyrupThinker]

Please tell me you are not running a NodeJS release that hasn't been supported for at least 3 years...

Optional chaining was added in v14 (2020), and it sure looks like that is the issue here.

[king_magic]

Brand new, clean install of npm.

Poor code + doc hygiene is the problem here.

[hayd]

The question is which version of node, not npm.

[king_magic]

It doesn't matter. The install was broken as was written. That's poor hygiene.

[drewbitt]

It does matter.

[king_magic]

Why yes, you're right, poor code hygiene and poor documentation hygiene does matter. We finally agree.