How to install NodeJS with Node Version Manager(nvm)

NodeJS, more commonly known as Node, is a run-time environment. This section helps you install Node with nvm, or Node Version Manager.

Node not a language but uses JavaScript syntax to run programmes outside the browsers. It is instrinsically a JavaScript engine that works on the server-side - just as Mozilla’s SpiderMonkey/ or Google’s V8 engines work browser-side.

Node is used to full stack web applications for those who prefer an end-to-end JavaScript solution architecture. Node ships with command line tools (the Node CLI) and various other tools and packages.

For more on Node I have a Node Tutorial repo on GitHub where I have followed some Linked-in and YouTube course materials.

What is the different between nvm and npm

Node updates are frequent. Different project may have different versions of Node installed.

This is where nvm is useful.

To use the Node environment, several packages or modules - known as node modules need to be installed.

Node Package Manager, more familiarly refered to as npm, is used to install these modules and packages.

While npm is used to install packages of code that your app requires to function, nvm manages the version of node used in your app.

Installing Node with nvm is easier as it allows you to manage and upgrade Node versions. This is especially useful if you are working on multiple projects with different Node versions.

Node pre-installation checks

In terminal run

node --version

for the version of Node. You can also use this Node version check link For the version of nvm, run

nvm --version

Note: if you have installed NodeJS previously, you will have to uninstall it first. You will also need to have set up your .zshrc and if you are using Bash your .bash_profile and .bashrc (see trouble shooting if you have not set this up)

To install nvm run curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | bash

To ensure your nvm installation points to Zish shell, you may have to run source ~/.zshrc

To debug the official docs are really easy to follow Install nvm docs

You need to close the terminal and open it again after installation to check if nvm has been installed.

Once nvm is installed, list the available versions by typing:

nvm ls-remote

You can now install the latest version of Node with

nvm install Node

This will alias and default the latest available version of Node.

However, if you require a specific version Node you can install it and alias default it to the version required

nvm install 12

or

nvm alias default 12

And you will be shown a list of all the available versions of Node.

Note: If you are switching shells, each shell will require the

  • Install Node & Node Version Manager with the GUI. If you prefer to install Node and nvm separately you can use the GUI link. If you want to install Node using the terminal rather than the GUI, paste the following command for Node in your terminal. This is useful if you do not have HomeBrew or Xcode preinstalled.
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Once you start coding with Node as an environment or with npm to install packages that your app is dependent on for performance, you will see a directory of node_modules installed. If Node is part of your app’s stack, you will require an dot file .npmrc where you pin the version of Node used in the package. You can then run nvm use in the project and use different versions of Node in different projects on your local machine.

Trouble shooting with MacOS installing Node

Depending on your shell you will need a .bashrc or .zshrc` file – if they don’t exist create them

Your system may not have a .bash_profile file where the command is set up.

Simply create one with touch ~/.bash_profile and run the install nvm script again. You might need to restart your terminal instance.

If the above doesn’t fix the problem, open your run ls -a and then $open .bash_profile and add the following lines of code in the pop up window

export NVM_DIR=~/.nvm && source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion"

Note: Make sure the two commands are on separate lines each shell will need a script so if you are shell switching both your Bash and Zish shells will need a script.

This is for the Zish .zhrc file

export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"  # This loads nvm
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion"  # This loads nvm bash_completion

or if you are using oh-my-zsh

<!-- export NVM_DIR="$([ -z "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME-}" ] && printf %s "${HOME}/.nvm" || printf %s "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/nvm")"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" # This loads nvm

Pinning the version of node to your repo

  1. Add a .nvmrc file in the root of your project paste the version of Node here eg: 18.17.0
  2. Add a .npmrc file in the root of your project paste engine-strict=true in this file
  3. In GitHub Actions paste this code to switch automatically to the version of note in your setup 
    - name: Setup Node
     uses: actions/setup-node@v4.0.2
     with:
       node-version-file: ".nvmrc"

  4. If you choose not to use GitHub actions, you can switch to the version of Node in your repo by running nvm use in terminal when you change directories into your project.

  5. A good chrome extension