diff --git a/puppet/zulip/manifests/static_asset_compiler.pp b/puppet/zulip/manifests/static_asset_compiler.pp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7919d72037
--- /dev/null
+++ b/puppet/zulip/manifests/static_asset_compiler.pp
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+class zulip::static_asset_compiler {
+  $static_asset_compiler_packages = [
+                                     # Needed for minify-js
+                                     "closure-compiler",
+                                     "nodejs",
+                                     "nodejs-legacy",
+                                     "npm",
+                                     "yui-compressor",
+                                     # Used by makemessages i18n
+                                     "gettext",
+                                     ]
+  define safepackage ( $ensure = present ) {
+    if !defined(Package[$title]) {
+      package { $title: ensure => $ensure }
+    }
+  }
+  safepackage { $static_asset_compiler_packages: ensure => "installed" }
+}
diff --git a/puppet/zulip_internal/manifests/app_frontend.pp b/puppet/zulip_internal/manifests/app_frontend.pp
index e56dcd9b74..4ec65e039e 100644
--- a/puppet/zulip_internal/manifests/app_frontend.pp
+++ b/puppet/zulip_internal/manifests/app_frontend.pp
@@ -3,10 +3,8 @@ class zulip_internal::app_frontend {
   include zulip::memcached
   include zulip::rabbit
   include zulip::postfix_localmail
-  $app_packages = [# Needed for minify-js
-                   "yui-compressor",
-                   "nodejs",
-                   # Needed for the ssh tunnel to the redis server
+  include zulip::static_asset_compiler
+  $app_packages = [# Needed for the ssh tunnel to the redis server
                    "autossh",
                    ]
   package { $app_packages: ensure => "installed" }