diff --git a/packages/debug-nodejs/.gitignore b/packages/debug-nodejs/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..d3a4c58190359
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/debug-nodejs/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+download
diff --git a/packages/debug-nodejs/package.json b/packages/debug-nodejs/package.json
index 4ecdbecdcc204..3b518ee1d70d8 100644
--- a/packages/debug-nodejs/package.json
+++ b/packages/debug-nodejs/package.json
@@ -30,16 +30,17 @@
   "homepage": "https://github.com/theia-ide/theia",
   "files": [
     "lib",
-    "src"
+    "src",
+    "scripts"
   ],
   "scripts": {
+    "postinstall": "node ./scripts/download-adapters.js",
     "prepare": "yarn run clean && yarn run build",
     "clean": "theiaext clean",
-    "build": "yarn download && theiaext build",
+    "build": "theiaext build",
     "watch": "theiaext watch",
     "test": "theiaext test",
-    "docs": "theiaext docs",
-    "download": "node ./scripts/download-adapters.js"
+    "docs": "theiaext docs"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@theia/ext-scripts": "^0.3.16"
diff --git a/packages/debug-nodejs/scripts/download-adapters.js b/packages/debug-nodejs/scripts/download-adapters.js
index 45775b0517c6e..6f2941c22a670 100644
--- a/packages/debug-nodejs/scripts/download-adapters.js
+++ b/packages/debug-nodejs/scripts/download-adapters.js
@@ -21,6 +21,6 @@ const path = require('path');
 const pck = require('../package.json');
 for (const name in pck.adapters) {
     const url = pck.adapters[name];
-    const targetPath = path.join(__dirname, '../lib', name);
+    const targetPath = path.join(__dirname, '../download', name);
     request(url).pipe(unzip.Extract({ path: targetPath }));
 }
diff --git a/packages/debug-nodejs/src/node/node-debug-adapter-contribution.ts b/packages/debug-nodejs/src/node/node-debug-adapter-contribution.ts
index b6058aaecb893..e7334958a4b86 100644
--- a/packages/debug-nodejs/src/node/node-debug-adapter-contribution.ts
+++ b/packages/debug-nodejs/src/node/node-debug-adapter-contribution.ts
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ export class NodeDebugAdapterContribution extends AbstractVSCodeDebugAdapterCont
     constructor() {
         super(
             'node',
-            path.join(__dirname, '../../lib/node-debug/extension')
+            path.join(__dirname, '../../download/node-debug/extension')
         );
     }
 
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ export class Node2DebugAdapterContribution extends AbstractVSCodeDebugAdapterCon
     constructor() {
         super(
             'node2',
-            path.join(__dirname, '../../lib/node-debug2/extension')
+            path.join(__dirname, '../../download/node-debug2/extension')
         );
     }