[BUG] `.npmrc` created in project root

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

When creating a project npm create ... or pnpm create ... I find a .npmrc in the project root.

prefix=/home/<username>/.npm-packages

I already have ~/.npmrc so another should not be necessary, and would be wrong if someone else pulled this project from github.

Expected Behavior

If a global .npmrc already exists, use that. Don't create a new, with identical contents.

If a global .npmrc already exists, but npm create ... need additional options, add those to a local .npmrc, and do some kind of merge, when those options are needed.

Steps To Reproduce

With an existing ~/.npmrc containing prefix= and run npm create svelte my-project should do the trick.

Environment

• npm: 9.2.0
• Node.js: 18.12.1
• OS Name: Slackware64 15.0 (Headless)
• System Model Name: Linux 5.15.80 SMP PREEMPT Sun Nov 27 13:28:05 CST 2022 x86_64 Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 v5 @ 3.40GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
• npm config:

; copy and paste output from `npm config ls` here

$ npm config ls
; "user" config from /home/<user>/.npmrc

prefix = "/home/<user>/.npm-packages" 

; "cli" config from command line options

location = "project" 

; node bin location = /usr/bin/node
; node version = v18.12.1
; npm local prefix = /home/<user>/local/github/svelte.js/vite-sveltekit-template-ts
; npm version = 9.2.0
; cwd = /home/<user>/local/github/svelte.js/vite-sveltekit-template-ts
; HOME = /home/<user>

Start by reproducing npm create svelte my-project with a user-level ~/.npmrc containing prefix=, then inspect the npm CLI paths handling project configuration and .npmrc creation. Compare npm config ls before and after; done means an unnecessary project-root .npmrc is not created, while required local options still work without overwriting user configuration.