Custom local packages with npm and github

I’m really struggling to understand how i can install a github repository via Npm.depends in a custom local package. i have a somewhat complicated situation because i need to pull down a particular branch.

Npm.depends({
‘custombootstrap’: “https://github.com/myaccount/custombootstrap/tarball/efda3942c3b7d8d8bc82bf2373b7557cb524fc74
});

This results in a lot of console errors and a “fetch failed” even though this url works.

I have been doing a LOT of digging on this and i’m really confused about the best way to pull in a custom repository like this as a dependency inside a custom package. any help would be greatly appreciated!