diff --git a/packages/google-cloud-automl/.circleci/config.yml b/packages/google-cloud-automl/.circleci/config.yml
index 9a65e928a47..80dcf7e67d9 100644
--- a/packages/google-cloud-automl/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/packages/google-cloud-automl/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ jobs:
           name: Install and link the module
           command: |-
             mkdir -p /home/node/.npm-global
-            npm install
+            ./.circleci/npm-install-retry.js
           environment:
             NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX: /home/node/.npm-global
       - run: npm test
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ jobs:
           command: |
             cd samples/
             npm link ../
-            npm install
+            ./../.circleci/npm-install-retry.js
           environment:
             NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX: /home/node/.npm-global
       - run:
@@ -172,6 +172,6 @@ jobs:
         user: node
     steps:
       - checkout
-      - run: npm install
+      - run: ./.circleci/npm-install-retry.js
       - run: echo "//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}" > ~/.npmrc
       - run: npm publish --access=public
diff --git a/packages/google-cloud-automl/.circleci/npm-install-retry.js b/packages/google-cloud-automl/.circleci/npm-install-retry.js
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..ae3220d7348
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/google-cloud-automl/.circleci/npm-install-retry.js
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+
+let spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
+
+//
+//USE: ./index.js <ms npm can be idle> <number of attempts> [... NPM ARGS]
+//
+
+let timeout = process.argv[2] || 60000;
+let attempts = process.argv[3] || 3;
+let args = process.argv.slice(4);
+if (args.length === 0) {
+  args = ['install'];
+}
+
+(function npm() {
+  let timer;
+  args.push('--verbose');
+  let proc = spawn('npm', args);
+  proc.stdout.pipe(process.stdout);
+  proc.stderr.pipe(process.stderr);
+  proc.stdin.end();
+  proc.stdout.on('data', () => {
+    setTimer();
+  });
+  proc.stderr.on('data', () => {
+    setTimer();
+  });
+
+  // side effect: this also restarts when npm exits with a bad code even if it
+  // didnt timeout
+  proc.on('close', (code, signal) => {
+    clearTimeout(timer);
+    if (code || signal) {
+      console.log('[npm-are-you-sleeping] npm exited with code ' + code + '');
+
+      if (--attempts) {
+        console.log('[npm-are-you-sleeping] restarting');
+        npm();
+      } else {
+        console.log('[npm-are-you-sleeping] i tried lots of times. giving up.');
+        throw new Error("npm install fails");
+      }
+    }
+  });
+
+  function setTimer() {
+    clearTimeout(timer);
+    timer = setTimeout(() => {
+      console.log('[npm-are-you-sleeping] killing npm with SIGTERM');
+      proc.kill('SIGTERM');
+      // wait a couple seconds
+      timer = setTimeout(() => {
+        // its it's still not closed sigkill
+        console.log('[npm-are-you-sleeping] killing npm with SIGKILL');
+        proc.kill('SIGKILL');
+      }, 2000);
+    }, timeout);
+  }
+})();