[BUG] Problems with npm install in docker

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

Simple test application generated with npm init and npm install

I've already tried with node:24 node:22 node:18, I noticed that if I remove express from dependencies the error stops, I don't know if it's because nothing needs to be installed or if the problem is in express

I've tried with and without --no-update-notifier

{
"name": "psvo",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "SPA Example",
"license": "ISC",
"author": "",
"type": "module",
"main": "index.js",
"scripts": {
},
"dependencies": {
"express": "^5.1.0"
}
}

In Dockerfile

FROM node:22-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json .
RUN npm install --no-update-notifier
EXPOSE 80
CMD ["npm", "start"]

In docker compose

services:

  psvo-dev:
    container_name: psvo-dev
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /app/node_modules

When running docker compose build, npm install runs for a few minutes and issues the following error:

usuario@server:~/ecosistema1/services/psvo$ docker compose build
[+] Building 148.2s (9/9) FINISHED
 => [internal] load local bake definitions                                                                                                                         0.0s
 => => reading from stdin 537B                                                                                                                                     0.0s
 => [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile                                                                                                           0.0s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 207B                                                                                                                               0.0s
 => [internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/node:22-alpine                                                                                                  0.0s
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                                                                                                  0.0s
 => => transferring context: 2B                                                                                                                                    0.0s
 => [1/4] FROM docker.io/library/node:22-alpine                                                                                                                    0.0s
 => [internal] load build context                                                                                                                                  0.0s
 => => transferring context: 72B                                                                                                                                   0.0s
 => CACHED [2/4] WORKDIR /app                                                                                                                                      0.0s
 => [3/4] COPY package*.json .                                                                                                                                     0.2s
 => ERROR [4/4] RUN npm install --no-update-notifier                                                                                                             147.2s
------
 > [4/4] RUN npm install --no-update-notifier:
146.5 npm error Exit handler never called!
146.5 npm error This is an error with npm itself. Please report this error at:
146.5 npm error   <https://github.com/npm/cli/issues>
146.5 npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /root/.npm/_logs/2025-09-16T16_05_37_926Z-debug-0.log
------
Dockerfile:7
--------------------

failed to solve: process "/bin/sh -c npm install --no-update-notifier" did not complete successfully: exit code: 1

Start with the package.json, Dockerfile, and docker compose configuration, then reproduce the failure with docker compose build using the listed Node images. Compare the install with and without express and inspect the npm debug log at /root/.npm/_logs/2025-09-16T16_05_37_926Z-debug-0.log; done means identifying and fixing the cause of “Exit handler never called” for this Docker install path.