(macOS) Manage Node versions via NVM

2022-04-17 hit count image

Let's see how to install NVM(Node Version Manager) on macOS and how to manage Node versions.

Outline

I’m a Mac user. I’m developing many projects on Mac, so I need to manage Node versions. In this blog post, I will show how to manage Node versions by using NVM(Node Version Manager).

This blog post is for the macOS only and for Mac that Homebrew was installed on.

Install NVM

Execute the command below to install NVM.

brew install nvm

Configure NVM

You need to configure .zshrc file to use NVM on the Terminal. Open .zshrc file and modify it like below.

# code ~/.zshrc
...
export NVM_DIR=~/.nvm
source $(brew --prefix nvm)/nvm.sh

After setting, restart the Terminal, and execute the command below to check NVM was installed well.

nvm --version

If you install and set well, you can see the result like below.

0.35.3

How to use

We’ve installed, so Let’s see how to use NVM to manage Node versions.

Node version list

You can see the Node version list that you can install by executing the command below.

nvm ls-remote

Install Node

After checking the versions, You can install the Node version by executing the commands below.

  • Install newest Node version

    nvm install node
    
  • Install LTS release Node version

    nvm install --lts
    
  • Install specific Node version

    nvm install 13.12.0
    

After installing, you can see the installed Node versions by executing the command below.

nvm ls

Change Node version

If you installed various Node versions via NVM, you can change the Node version by executing the command below.

nvm use 13.12.0

Execute the command below to check the Node version is changed well.

nvm ls

If the version is changed well, you can see the result like below.

       v8.9.0
       v12.16.1
->     v13.12.0
         system

Delete Node version

Execute the command below to delete the Node version which you want to delete.

nvm uninstall 8.9.0

After deleting, you can see the result like below.

Uninstalled node v8.9.0

Manage Node version by project

We’ve seen how to install Node versions via NVM and how to use the Node version via NVM. Next, let’s see how to manage the Node version by project.

Create .nvmrc

To manage the Node version by project, You need to create .nvmrc file. Create .nvmrc file on the root folder of the project, and modify it like below.

12.16.1

How to use .nvmrc

To use this Node version, execute the command below on the folder which .nvmrc exists.

nvm use

If the Node version in .nvmrc file was installed on Local, you can see the result like below.

Found '/projects/.nvmrc' with version <12.16.1>
Now using node v12.16.1 (npm v6.13.4)

If the Node version didn’t exist on Local, you can see the result like below.

Found '/projects/.nvmrc' with version <8.9.0>
N/A: version "8.9.0 -> N/A" is not yet installed.

You need to run "nvm install 8.9.0" to install it before using it.

If you don’t have the Node version in .nvmrc file like above, you can install the Node version by executing the command below.

nvm install

After installing, you can see the result like below.

...
Checksums matched!
Now using node v8.9.0 (npm v5.5.1)

Completed

In this blog post, we’ve seen how to install various Node versions on Local by NVM(Node Version Manager) and how to use it. Also, we’ve seen how to create .nvmrc file to manage the Node versions by projects, and how to use or install the Node version by using .nvmrc file.

Now, Let’s manage the Node versions by projects via NVM!

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