Set up Node.js version management¶
If your project requires a specific Node.js version that is not
available from your package manager, you can use n, Node.js version
manager. With it, you can maintain and switch between multiple versions
of Node.js.
1 Install n¶
First uninstall Node.js, as it will conflict with the versions installed through the version manager.
Execute on the command line:
curl -L https://git.io/n-install | bash
This will run n-install to
install n. The installer will notify you that it will automatically
configure environment variables. When prompted, enter y to proceed
with the installation.
After the installation finishes, restart your terminal app to make sure that the path changes are picked up by the shell.
2 Configure (macOS only)¶
To avoid requiring sudo for n and npm global installs,
configure environment variable N_PREFIX, which will point to the
place where n will store Node.js binaries. With this you will also
need to update the PATH environment variable, so that the system can
find the active binaries. Execute on the command line:
cd ~
mkdir n
You can now update environment variables. If you use zsh shell, add
to the end of the ~/.zprofile file:
export N_PREFIX=~/"n"
export PATH=~/"n/bin:$PATH"
Before starting with the next step, restart your terminal app to make sure that the path changes are picked up by the shell.
3 Install Node.js through n¶
You can now use n to install Node.js, for example latest and LTS
versions:
n latest
n lts
To install exact version of Node.js, for example 10.16.0, execute on
the command line:
n 10.16.0
You can also install the latest release of the specific major version,
for example 12, with:
n 12
Note that each version on Node.js installed through n will come with
its own version of npm.
4 Install a package with npm¶
To install a package globally, for example yarn, execute on the
command line:
npm install -g yarn
Packages installed globally with npm will be installed independently
of the version of Node.js that is currently active.
5 Switch between different versions of Node.js¶
To switch between different versions of Node.js, execute on the command line:
n
Then select between available versions of Node.js.
Note that switching between different versions of Node.js will also
switch the accompanied version of npm.
For more details on how to use n, see https://github.com/tj/n.