Node: MacOS

Installing and working with Node, npm, nvm on MacOS

You can install node (which installs npm and npx along with it) either by

• Directly obtaining an installer from: https://nodejs.org/en/download/
• With the brew package manager (see below).

Installing node via brew

One of the easiest ways to do this on MacOS is via the brew package manager.

Installing brew

• To install brew, visit https://brew.sh and follow the instructions
• Before installing anything with brew, it’s good practice to run brew update first.
• If your brew install is messed up, brew doctor can help restore a proper install.

Using brew to install node

This command will install node using brew

brew install node

To test if it worked, you can try:

npm --version

Error: gyp: No Xcode or CLT version detected!

If you get an error like this one when you try to do npm install, then you may need to reinstall your XCode tools.

> node-gyp rebuild
No receipt for 'com.apple.pkg.CLTools_Executables' found at '/'.
No receipt for 'com.apple.pkg.DeveloperToolsCLILeo' found at '/'.
No receipt for 'com.apple.pkg.DeveloperToolsCLI' found at '/'.
gyp: No Xcode or CLT version detected!

Here are the instructions for doing so:

• https://medium.com/flawless-app-stories/gyp-no-xcode-or-clt-version-detected-macos-catalina-anansewaa-38b536389e8d
  • NOTE however that there is a missing step in those instructions. After removing the old version of the XCode command line tools, to start the process of reinstalling the XCode command line tools, type git at the command prompt.

If that doesn’t work, here’s another option:

This worked for me.

Install full Xcode Open Xcode and the CLT will install Then run sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

This uses the full Xcode CLT and node-gyp works.

Install npm packages globally without sudo on macOS

These instructions work for Linux too.

https://github.com/sindresorhus/guides/blob/master/npm-global-without-sudo.md

Should I install npm or nvm?

Most node tutorials suggest installing node and then using the tool npm.

It’s probably a better idea to work with nvm if you are using your own computer, as that will allow you to maintain separate node environments for different projects.

This StackOverflow answer explains more: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16151018/npm-throws-error-without-sudo

Installing nvm

See: https://github.com/creationix/nvm#install-script

npm install wants root / sudo. What should I do?

See this StackOverflow answer: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16151018/npm-throws-error-without-sudo