`n` – Interactively Manage Your Node.js Versions

Node.js version management: no subshells, no profile setup, no convoluted API, just simple.

(Unfortunately n is not supported on Windows.)

n – Interactively Manage Your Node.js Versions

Installation

Since you probably already have node, the easiest way to install n is through npm:

$ npm install -g n

Alternatively, you can clone this repo and

$ make install

to install n to bin/n of the directory specified in the environment variable $PREFIX, which defaults to /usr/local (note that you will likely need to use sudo). To install n in a custom location (such as $CUSTOM_LOCATION/bin/n), run PREFIX=$CUSTOM_LOCATION make install.

Once installed, n installs node versions to subdirectory n/versions of the directory specified in environment variable N_PREFIX, which defaults to /usr/local; the active node version is installed directly in N_PREFIX. To change the default to, say, $HOME, prefix later calls to n with N_PREFIX=$HOME or add export N_PREFIX=$HOME to your shell initialization file.

To avoid requiring sudo for n and npm global installs, it is recommended you either install to your home directory using N_PREFIX, or take ownership of the system directories:

# make cache folder (if missing) and take ownership
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/n
sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/n
# take ownership of node install destination folders
sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib /usr/local/include /usr/local/share

Third Party Installers

On macOS with Homebrew you can install the n formula.

brew install n

On Linux and macOS, n-install allows installation directly from GitHub; for instance:

curl -L https://git.io/n-install | bash

n-install sets both PREFIX and N_PREFIX to $HOME/n, installs n to $HOME/n/bin, modifies the initialization files of supported shells to export N_PREFIX and add $HOME/n/bin to the PATH, and installs the latest stable node version.

As a result, both n itself and all node versions it manages are hosted inside a single, optionally configurable directory, which you can later remove with the included n-uninstall script. n-update updates n itself to the latest version. See the n-install repo for more details.

Installing/Activating Node Versions

Simply execute n <version> to install a version of node. If <version> has already been installed (via n), n will activate that version. A leading v is optional, and a partial version number installs the newest matching version.

$ n 4.9.1
$ n 10
$ n v8.11.3

Execute n on its own to view your currently installed versions. Use the up and down arrow keys to navigate and press enter to select. Use q or ^C (control + C) to exit the selection screen. If you like vim key bindings during the selection of node versions, you can use j and k to navigate up or down without using arrows.

$ n

  node/4.9.1
ο node/8.11.3
  node/10.15.0

Use or install the latest official release:

$ n latest

Use or install the latest LTS official release:

$ n lts

Removing Versions

Remove some versions:

$ n rm 0.9.4 v0.10.0

Alternatively, you can use - in lieu of rm:

$ n - 0.9.4

Removing all versions except the current version:

$ n prune

Binary Usage

When running multiple versions of node, we can target them directly by asking n for the binary path:

$ n bin 0.9.4
/usr/local/n/versions/0.9.4/bin/node

Or by using a specific version through n's use sub-command:

$ n use 0.9.4 some.js

Flags also work here:

$ n as 0.9.4 --debug some.js

Usage

Output can also be obtained from n --help.

Usage: n [options/env] [COMMAND] [args]

Environments:
 n [COMMAND] [args]            Uses default env (node)

Commands:

  n                              Output versions installed
  n latest                       Install or activate the latest node release
  n -a x86 latest                As above but force 32 bit architecture
  n lts                          Install or activate the latest LTS node release
  n <version>                    Install node <version>
  n use <version> [args ...]     Execute node <version> with [args ...]
  n bin <version>                Output bin path for <version>
  n rm <version ...>             Remove the given version(s)
  n prune                        Remove all versions except the current version
  n --latest                     Output the latest node version available
  n --lts                        Output the latest LTS node version available
  n ls                           Output the versions of node available

Options:

  -V, --version   Output current version of n
  -h, --help      Display help information
  -q, --quiet     Disable curl output (if available)
  -d, --download  Download only
  -a, --arch      Override system architecture

Aliases:

  which   bin
  use     as
  list    ls
  -       rm
  stable  lts

Custom source

If you would like to use a project other than the official Node.js project, you can use the special n project [command] which allows you to control the behavior of n using environment variables.

For example, to grab the latest io.js version:

  PROJECT_NAME="iojs" PROJECT_URL="https://iojs.org/dist/" n project latest

Required Variables:

PROJECT_NAME: The name the project will be stored under
PROJECT_URL: The location to download the project from. Note, this must follow the same format as the Node.js repos

Optional Variables:

HTTP_USER: The username if the PROJECT_URL is protected by basic authentication
HTTP_PASSWORD: The password if the PROJECT_URL is protected by basic authentication
PROJECT_VERSION_CHECK: Many custom projects keep the same version number as the Node.js release they are based on, and maintain their own separate version in process. This allows you to define a JavaScript variable that will be used to check for the version of the process, for example: process.versions.node

Custom architecture

By default n picks the binaries matching your system architecture, e.g. n will download 64 bit binaries for a 64 bit system. You can override this by using the -a or --arch option.

Download and use latest 32 bit version of node:

$ n --arch x86 latest

Download and use 64 bit LTS version of node for older Mac Intel Core 2 Duo systems (x86 image is no longer available but x64 runs fine):

$ n --arch x64 lts

Additional Details

n installs versions to /usr/local/n/versions by default. Here, it can see what versions are currently installed and activate previously installed versions accordingly when n <version> is invoked again.

Activated versions are then installed to the prefix /usr/local, which may be altered via the N_PREFIX environment variable.

To alter where n operates, simply export N_PREFIX.

If you are searching for the latest version of n below 2.x.x, check out the branch 1.x.x.

License

(The MIT License)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

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n – Interactively Manage Your Node.js Versions