**Description:** Stop adding `always-auth = (Boolean)` to the `.npmrc` file by default. Consider removing the `always-auth` actions input and all related code. If there's an upcoming major release in the next year or so, this change can be incorporated into that to ensure stable workflows aren't impacted. **Justification:** `always-auth` was removed from the npm cli in 2021: https://github.com/npm/cli/commit/72a7eeb493e0e71cba3af36490cb245030ed31a3. npm 6 (?) was the last release to honor this flag. See https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v6/commands/npm-adduser vs newer docs. npm cli 11 warns `npm warn Unknown user config "always-auth". This will stop working in the next major version of npm.` **Are you willing to submit a PR?** Yes ### Related Addition of `always-auth`: https://github.com/actions/setup-node/pull/48 Sample workflow run: https://github.com/hashtagchris/junk-drawer/actions/runs/15785443544/job/44500732542#step:5:8 ### Sample workflow This reproduces the npm 11 warning ```yaml name: npm always-auth warning on: workflow_dispatch jobs: repro: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Checkout repository uses: actions/checkout@v4 - name: Install Node.js uses: actions/setup-node@v4 with: node-version: '20' registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org/' - name: Install the latest version of the npm CLI run: | npm install -g npm@latest # Run various npm commands to trigger the warning - run: npm --version - run: npm config ls - name: Inspect the config set up by setup-node run: | cat /home/runner/work/_temp/.npmrc ```