How To Install NVM on macOS with Homebrew

Hey Node.js developers, are you struggling to handle multiple Node.js versions for different projects on a single machine? It can be even more challenging to maintain them on shared systems. Not to worry—NVM can help you manage all of these issues.

Node Version Manager (NVM) is popular among developers for installing and managing multiple versions of Node.js on a single machine. This allows developers to work on multiple projects that require different versions of Node.js. NVM installs Node.js under the user’s home directory, ensuring that Node.js versions do not conflict between users on shared systems. On macOS, there are several methods available to install NVM, but one of the most popular and efficient ways is using Homebrew, the renowned package manager for macOS.

This tutorial will provide you with step-by-step instructions for installing NVM on macOS using Homebrew, enabling you to set up a flexible Node.js development environment with ease.

Prerequisites

• A macOS systems with admin privileges.
• If you don’t have Homebrew installed on your macOS, you can install it by pasting the following command in the terminal:

  /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)" 
  

  For more instruction visit Homebrew installation tutorial.

Now follow the below steps to install Node.js on macOS:

Step 1: Remove Existing Node Versions

If your system already has a node installed, uninstall it first. My system already has installed node via Homebrew. So uninstalling it first. Skip if not already installed.

brew uninstall --ignore-dependencies node 
brew uninstall --force node 

Step 2: Install NVM on macOS

1. Before installing any packages, it’s always a good idea to update Homebrew to the latest version and update the formulae.

   brew update 
   

2. After that, you can easily install NVM using the following command:

   brew install nvm 
   

3. Next, create a .nvm directory in the home.

   mkdir ~/.nvm 
   

4. Now, configure the required environment variables. Edit the following configuration file in your home directory

   vim ~/.bash_profile 
   

5. Add the below lines to ~/.bash_profile ( or ~/.zshrc for macOS Catalina or newer versions)

   
   export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
   [ -s "/usr/local/opt/nvm/nvm.sh" ] && \. "/usr/local/opt/nvm/nvm.sh"
   [ -s "/usr/local/opt/nvm/etc/bash_completion" ] && \. "/usr/local/opt/nvm/etc/bash_completion"
   
   

   Press ESC + :wq to save and close your file.

6. Next, load the environment variables to the current shell environment. From the next login, it will automatically loaded.

   source ~/.bash_profile  # or source ~/.zshrc 
   

That’s it. The NVM has been installed on your macOS system. Go to next step to install Node.js versions with the help of nvm.

Step 3: Using NVM

First of all, see what Node versions are available to install. To see available versions, type:

nvm ls-remote 

Now, you can install any version listed in above output. You can also use aliases names like node for latest version, lts for latest LTS version, etc.

nvm install node     ## Installing Latest version 
nvm install 20       ## Installing Node.js 20.X version 

After installing you can verify what is installed with:

nvm ls 

If you have installed multiple versions on your system, you can set any version as the default version any time. To set the node 20 as default version, simply use:

nvm alias default 20 

Similarly, you can install other versions like Node 12, 16, 18, and 21 versions and switch between easily.

Conclusion

That’s it. You have successfully installed and configured NVM on your macOS system. This tutorial also guides you through the basic uses of NVM, including installing Node.js versions, switching between different Node.js versions, and setting a specific version as the default. Once installed, developers can easily switch between versions as per their project requirements.

Let’s continue with your Node.js application development. Happy programming!