Tech Blog
by Popular Demand
Install Node.js on MacOS
Node.js is an open source development platform for executing JavaScript code server-side. While JavaScript runs natively in a browser (i.e. client-side), Node.js provides developers the platform with which to build applications for a controlled environment that runs on a host computer, separate from the JavaScript that is delivered to the client’s browser. In this way, a Node.js application is comparable to PHP, Java, and Ruby, and other application environments that handle web-traffic requests, but are not delivered to the client.
To develop a Node.js application on MacOS, the Node binaries must be installed.
1. Create a user with admin access.
Chances are you are already a user with admin access. If you are aware that you are not a user with admin access, follow these steps (osxdaily.com) to create such a user. You will need a user with admin access to create this new user.
2. Install Homebrew
$ ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
$ brew -v
3. Remove existing node versions
$ brew uninstall --force node
4. Install NVM
$ brew update
$ brew install nvm
5. Follow the instructions output by the nvm installer
You should create NVM's working directory if it doesn't exist:
mkdir ~/.nvm
Add the following to ~/.zshrc or your desired shell
configuration file:
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "/usr/local/opt/nvm/nvm.sh" ] && \. "/usr/local/opt/nvm/nvm.sh" # This loads nvm
[ -s "/usr/local/opt/nvm/etc/bash_completion.d/nvm" ] && \. "/usr/local/opt/nvm/etc/bash_completion.d/nvm" # This loads nvm bash_completion
You can set $NVM_DIR to any location, but leaving it unchanged from
/usr/local/opt/nvm will destroy any nvm-installed Node installations
upon upgrade/reinstall.
Type `nvm help` for further information.
Practically, issue the following commands
$ mkdir ~/.nvm
$ nano ~/.zshrc
Copy and paste the script from the output within .zshrc, and use the command source to load the new configuration into the active terminal.
$ source ~/.zshrc
6. Install the latest long-term support version of Node.js.
$ nvm install --lts
$ nvm current
nvm current displays the currently active node version. It should be the version that was installed with nvm install --lts.
7. Check the installations
You should now have nvm and Node.js installed. Check the installation. Here are the commands with example output.
$ nvm -v
0.39.1
$ node -v
v16.14.2
Now that Node is installed, get to building out your application. Check out the sample web-server provided by the Node.js team. But listen! Node.js is useful for more than serving web requests. Node.js can be used to build desktop applications, command-line scripts, and developer libraries (things that can be npm installed).
Resources
Similar walkthrough: https://tecadmin.net/install-nvm-macos-with-homebrew/