Using nvm To Manage Node Versions

Different projects of node use different versions and being able to switch back and forth is a necessity. Luckily for us, there is nvm which allows to change and install different nvm versions easily. Here is how to get started and some quick commands.

Installing

Using homebrew:

brew update
brew install nvm
source $(brew --prefix nvm)/nvm.sh
# Run this to not have to run the shell script on every terminal start
echo "source $(brew --prefix nvm)/nvm.sh" >> ~/.profile

Use the nvm provided install script

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.34.0/install.sh | bash

Commands

Installing a node version:

nvm install 10.10.0

The first installed version becomes the default
List all available node versions

nvm ls-remote

Use a particular version

nvm use v8.6.0

Using a .nvmrc file

You can create a .nvmrc file containing a node version and nvm will traverse the directory structure looking for that file too use that version.

echo "10.10.0" > .nvmrc

So then if you run nvm use, nvm will find that nvmrc file and switch to the node version specified.

With deeper shell integration you can have your node version change immediately when changing into that directory that contains a .nvmrc file. This makes changing node versions based on the project a breeze and totally automated.