test: remove example-install-only

[MikeMcC399]

Situation

The workflow example-install-only.yml pins a version of Cypress separately to the version defined in examples/install-only.

• Renovate is unable to maintain this version, resulting in manual instructions being written for

  • scripts/update-cypress-latest.sh
  • docs/MAINTENANCE.md

• Code scanning typically flags pinning npm versions in workflows like this, since current updating utilities such as Renovate and Dependabot can't maintain them.

• The workflow currently runs on ubuntu-24.04 using the default Node.js 22.23.1 version.

• If it is upgraded to Node.js 24.x, it warns. And if it is upgraded to npm 12, it fails.

• Attempting to make it compatible with npm 12, exposes other errors in the workflow, such as the npm install running in the wrong directory.

Assessment

• Given heightened awareness of supply-chain vulnerabilities, it can no longer be considered as a good example and it is not fixable. npm does not allow picking only one dependency defined in package.json, although it can choose between dev and prod. Renovate can't keep it synced either.

• The higher frequency of reported vulnerabilities in the npm ecosystem, compared to earlier, means that it is no longer viable to be manually updating dependencies. The main part of the work needs to be automated, and in this repo that means relying on Renovate.

Change

Remove the following, and all references to these examples:

• example-install-only.yml
• examples/install-only

Verification

Under Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS, Node.js 24.18.0 LTS execute:

npm run update:cypress

Confirm that the script runs without error and no longer prompts to manually update example-install-only.yml.

---

Note

Low Risk
Documentation and example removal only; no runtime changes to the GitHub Action itself.

Overview
Removes the install-only pattern from the repo: the example-install-only GitHub Actions workflow, the examples/install-only project, and all documentation that described installing only Cypress (with install: false on the action) instead of full npm ci.

README drops the table-of-contents link and the full “Install Cypress only” section (sample YAML and status badge). Custom install now ends after the note that you may install and cache Cypress yourself without the action—without pointing at this example.

Maintenance is simplified: docs/MAINTENANCE.md no longer mentions hand-editing the workflow’s pinned Cypress version; scripts/update-cypress-latest-npm.sh no longer updates install-only; and scripts/update-cypress-latest.sh no longer prints/opens instructions to manually sync that workflow.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit 67074b8. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

[cypress-app-bot]

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