Node.js – How to change the version of npm using nvm

node.jsnpm

I've been using NVM to install the latest versions of nodeJS for my node work. It works totally fine for installing separate versions and switching between them. It also installs the latest version of NPM within each local …/bin folder along with the node binary. However, there doesn't seem to be any way to switch the version of NPM that I'm using (or at least I can't figure it out).

The only solution I can think of myself is to delete the binary that it's defaulting to (which is the NPM that was installed when I first installed node with NVM), and in its place to put the latest NPM binary. However, I'm wondering if there are any better ways to go about doing this.

Best Answer

EDIT: several years since this question was first answered, as noted in a newer answer, there is now a command for this:

nvm now has a command to update npm. It's nvm install-latest-npm or nvm install --latest-npm.

nvm install-latest-npm: Attempt to upgrade to the latest working npm on the current node version

nvm install --latest-npm: After installing, attempt to upgrade to the latest working npm on the given node version

Below are previous revisions of the correct answer to this question.

Over three years after this question was first asked, it seems like the answer is much simpler now. Just update the version that nvm installed, which lives in ~/.nvm/versions/node/[your-version]/lib/node_modules/npm.

I just installed node 4.2.2, which comes with npm 2.14.7, but I want to use npm 3. So I did:

cd ~/.nvm/versions/node/v4.2.2/lib
npm install npm

Easy!

And yes, this should work for any module, not just npm, that you want to be "global" for a specific version of node.

EDIT 1: In the newest version, npm -g is smart and installs modules into the path above instead of the system global path.

Thanks @philraj for pointing this out in a comment.

Related Solutions

Node.js – How to update NodeJS and NPM to the next versions

See the docs for the update command:

npm update [-g] [<pkg>...]

This command will update all the packages listed to the latest version (specified by the tag config), respecting semver.

Additionally, see the documentation on Node.js and NPM installation and Upgrading NPM.

The following original answer is from the old FAQ that no longer exists, but should work for Linux and Mac:

How do I update npm?
npm install -g npm
Please note that this command will remove your current version of npm. Make sure to use sudo npm install -g npm if on a Mac.

You can also update all outdated local packages by doing npm update without any arguments, or global packages by doing npm update -g.

Occasionally, the version of npm will progress such that the current version cannot be properly installed with the version that you have installed already. (Consider, if there is ever a bug in the update command.) In those cases, you can do this:
curl https://www.npmjs.com/install.sh | sh

To update Node.js itself, I recommend you use nvm, the Node Version Manager.

Node.js – Find the version of an installed npm package

npm list for local packages or npm list -g for globally installed packages.

You can find the version of a specific package by passing its name as an argument. For example, npm list grunt will result in:

projectName@projectVersion /path/to/project/folder
└── grunt@0.4.1

Alternatively, you can just run npm list without passing a package name as an argument to see the versions of all your packages:

├─┬ cli-color@0.1.6 
│ └── es5-ext@0.7.1 
├── coffee-script@1.3.3 
├── less@1.3.0 
├─┬ sentry@0.1.2 
│ ├── file@0.2.1 
│ └── underscore@1.3.3 
└── uglify-js@1.2.6

You can also add --depth=0 argument to list installed packages without their dependencies.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Node.js – How to update NodeJS and NPM to the next versions

How do I update npm?

Node.js – Find the version of an installed npm package

Related Topic