The 'n' npm package is a Node.js version manager that allows you to easily switch between different versions of Node.js. It simplifies the process of installing, managing, and using multiple Node.js versions on a single system.
Install a specific version of Node.js
This command installs Node.js version 14.17.0. You can specify any version number to install that particular version.
n 14.17.0Switch to the latest stable version of Node.js
This command switches your Node.js version to the latest stable release. It's useful for ensuring you are using the most recent stable version.
n stableList installed Node.js versions
This command lists all the Node.js versions that are currently installed on your system. It helps you see which versions are available for use.
n lsRemove a specific version of Node.js
This command removes the specified version of Node.js from your system. It's useful for cleaning up versions you no longer need.
n rm 14.17.0Use a specific version of Node.js
This command temporarily uses the specified version of Node.js for the current session. It's useful for testing or running scripts with a specific Node.js version without changing the global version.
n use 14.17.0The 'nvm' (Node Version Manager) package is another popular tool for managing multiple Node.js versions. It offers similar functionalities to 'n', such as installing, switching, and listing Node.js versions. However, 'nvm' is a shell script and works across different shells, whereas 'n' is a simpler, more straightforward tool that operates directly from the command line.
The 'avn' (Automatic Version Switching for Node) package automatically switches Node.js versions based on the version specified in a project's .node-version file. It integrates with 'nvm' and 'n' to provide seamless version switching when navigating between projects. Unlike 'n', 'avn' focuses on automating the version switching process.
The 'fnm' (Fast Node Manager) package is a fast and cross-platform Node.js version manager written in Rust. It aims to be faster and more efficient than 'n' and 'nvm'. 'fnm' offers similar functionalities, such as installing and switching Node.js versions, but with a focus on performance and speed.
n – Interactively Manage Your Node.js Versions
Node.js version management: no subshells, no profile setup, no convoluted API, just simple.
n – Interactively Manage Your Node.js Versions
n is supported on macOS, Linux, including with Windows Subsystem for Linux, and various other unix-like systems.
It is written as a BASH script but does not require you to use BASH as your command shell.
n does not work in native shells on Microsoft Windows (like PowerShell), or Git for Windows BASH, or with the Cygwin DLL.
If you already have Node.js installed, an easy way to install n is using npm:
npm install -g n
The default root location used when running n is /usr/local where a normal user does not have write permission. You may strike the same sort of permission error when using npm to install global modules, like the above command. You have three main options:
n to use a custom location where you do have write permissions (see N_PREFIX)sudo in front of the command to run it as super usern caches Node.js versions in subdirectory n/versions. The active Node.js version is installed in subdirectories bin, include, lib, and share.
To take ownership of the system directories (option 1):
# make cache folder (if missing) and take ownership
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/n
sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/n
# make sure the required folders exist (safe to execute even if they already exist)
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib /usr/local/include /usr/local/share
# take ownership of Node.js install destination folders
sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib /usr/local/include /usr/local/share
If npm is not yet available, one way to bootstrap an install is to download and run n directly. To install the lts version of Node.js:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tj/n/master/bin/n | bash -s install lts
# If you want n installed, you can use npm now.
npm install -g n
If you don't need support for updates to n itself you can just save the download:
curl -fsSL -o /usr/local/bin/n https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tj/n/master/bin/n
chmod 0755 /usr/local/bin/n
n install lts
On macOS with Homebrew you can install the n formula.
brew install n
Or on macOS with MacPorts you can install the n port:
port install n
On Linux and macOS, n-install allows installation directly from GitHub; for instance:
curl -L https://bit.ly/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 LTS Node.js version.
As a result, both n itself and all Node.js 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.
Changing from a previous Node.js installed to a different location may involve a few extra steps. See docs for changing node location for a walk-through example of switching from using Homebrew to using n to manage Node.js.
You have a problem with multiple versions if after installing node you see the "installed" and "active" locations are different:
% n lts
copying : node/20.12.2
installed : v20.12.2 to /usr/local/bin/node
active : v21.7.3 at /opt/homebrew/bin/node
Simply execute n <version> to download and install a version of Node.js. If <version> has already been downloaded, n will install from its cache.
n 10.16.0
n lts
Execute n on its own to view your downloaded versions, and install the selected version.
$ n
node/4.9.1
ο node/8.11.3
node/10.15.0
Use up/down arrow keys to select a version, return key to install, d to delete, q to quit
(You can also use j and k to select next or previous version instead of using arrows, or ctrl+n and ctrl+p.)
If the active node version does not change after install, try opening a new shell in case seeing a stale version.
There are a variety of ways of specifying the target Node.js version for n commands. Most commands use the latest matching version, and n ls-remote lists multiple matching versions.
Numeric version numbers can be complete or incomplete, with an optional leading v.
4.9.18: 8.x.y versionsv6.1: 6.1.x versionsThere are labels for two especially useful versions:
lts: newest Long Term Support official releaselatest, current: newest official releaseThere is an auto label to read the target version from a file in the current directory, or any parent directory. n looks for in order:
.n-node-version: version on single line. Custom to n..node-version: version on single line. Used by multiple tools: node-version-usage.nvmrc: version on single line. Used by nvm.engine as below.The engine label looks for a package.json file and reads the engines field to determine compatible Node.js. Requires an installed version of jq or node, and uses npx semver to resolve complex ranges.
There is support for the named release streams:
argon, boron, carbon: codenames for LTS release streamsThese Node.js support aliases may be used, although simply resolve to the latest matching version:
active, lts_active, lts_latest, lts, current, supportedThe last version form is for specifying other releases available using the name of the remote download folder optionally followed by the complete or incomplete version.
nightlytest/v11.0.0-test20180528rc/10Remove some cached versions:
n rm 0.9.4 v0.10.0
Removing all cached versions except the installed version:
n prune
Remove the installed Node.js (does not affect the cached versions). This can be useful to revert to the system version of node (if in a different location), or if you no longer wish to use node and npm, or are switching to a different way of managing them.
n uninstall
There are three commands for working directly with your downloaded versions of Node.js, without reinstalling.
You can show the path to the downloaded node version:
$ n which 6.14.3
/usr/local/n/versions/6.14.3/bin/node
Or run a downloaded node version with the n run command:
n run 8.11.3 --debug some.js
Or execute a command with PATH modified so node and npm will be from the downloaded Node.js version.
(NB: npm run this way will be using global node_modules from the target node version folder.)
n exec 10 my-script --fast test
n exec lts zsh
A Node.js install normally also includes npm, npx, and corepack, but you may wish to preserve your current (especially newer) versions using --preserve:
$ npm install -g npm@latest
...
$ npm --version
6.13.7
# Node.js 8.17.0 includes (older) npm 6.13.4
$ n -p 8
installed : v8.17.0
$ npm --version
6.13.7
You can make this the default by setting the environment variable to a non-empty string. There are separate environment variables for npm and corepack:
export N_PRESERVE_NPM=1
export N_PRESERVE_COREPACK=1
You can be explicit to get the desired behaviour whatever the environment variables:
n --preserve nightly
n --no-preserve latest
Command line help can be obtained from n --help.
List matching remote versions available for download:
n ls-remote lts
n ls-remote latest
n lsr 10
n --all lsr
List downloaded versions in cache:
n ls
Download version into cache:
n download 22
Use n to access cached versions (already downloaded) without internet available.
n --offline 12
Remove the cache version after installing using --cleanup. This is particularly useful for a one-shot install, like in a docker container.
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tj/n/master/bin/n | bash -s install --cleanup lts
Normally n run, n exec, and n which will fail if the target version is not already in the cache. You can add --download to use the cache if available or download if required:
n --download run 18.3 my-script.js
Display diagnostics to help resolve problems:
n doctor
If you would like to use a different Node.js mirror which has the same layout as the default https://nodejs.org/dist/, you can define N_NODE_MIRROR.
One example is for users in China who can define:
export N_NODE_MIRROR=https://npmmirror.com/mirrors/node
Another example is the Node.js unofficial-builds project which has downloads for some platforms not made available officially, such as armv6l (Raspberry Pi) and 32-bit x86.
export N_NODE_MIRROR=https://unofficial-builds.nodejs.org/download/release
You may need to specify the architecture explicitly if not autodetected by n, such as using musl libc on Alpine. You can do that with N_ARCH or --arch:
export N_NODE_MIRROR=https://unofficial-builds.nodejs.org/download/release
export N_ARCH=x64-musl
apk add bash curl libstdc++
n install lts
If the custom mirror requires authentication you can add the url-encoded username and password into the URL. e.g.
export N_NODE_MIRROR=https://encoded-username:encoded-password@host:port/path
There is also N_NODE_DOWNLOAD_MIRROR for a different mirror with same layout as the default https://nodejs.org/download.
By default n picks the binaries matching your system architecture. For example, on a 64 bit system n will download 64 bit binaries.
On a Mac with Apple silicon:
n defaults to arm64 binaries which run nativelyn defaults to x64 binaries which run in Rosetta 2You can override the default architecture by using the -a or --arch option, or set N_ARCH environment variable.
e.g. reinstall latest version of Node.js with x64 binaries:
n rm current
n --arch x64 current
The n command downloads and installs to /usr/local by default, but you may override this location by defining N_PREFIX.
To change the location to say $HOME/.n, add lines like the following to your shell initialization file:
export N_PREFIX=$HOME/.n
export PATH=$N_PREFIX/bin:$PATH
If you want to store the downloads under a different location, use N_CACHE_PREFIX. This does not affect where the active
node version is installed.
n defaults to using xz compressed Node.js tarballs for the download if it is likely tar on the system supports xz decompression.
You can override the automatic choice by setting an environment variable to zero or non-zero:
export N_USE_XZ=0 # to disable
export N_USE_XZ=1 # to enable
You can be explicit to get the desired behaviour whatever the environment variable:
n install --use-xz nightly
n install --no-use-xz latest
In brief:
N_NODE_MIRROR: see Custom MirrorN_NODE_DOWNLOAD_MIRROR: see Custom MirrorN_MAX_REMOTE_MATCHES to change the default ls-remote maximum of 20 matching versionsN_PRESERVE_NPM: see Preserving npmN_PRESERVE_COREPACK: see Preserving npmN_ARCH: see Custom Architecturen downloads a prebuilt Node.js package and installs to a single prefix (e.g. /usr/local). This overwrites the previous version. The bin folder in this location should be in your PATH (e.g. /usr/local/bin).
The downloads are kept in a cache folder to be used for reinstalls. The downloads are also available for limited use using n which and n run and n exec.
The global npm packages are not changed by the install, with the
exception of npm itself which is part of the Node.js install.
[10.2.0] (2025-05-21)
N_ARCH to set architecture for download, like using --arch ([#832])FAQs
Interactively Manage All Your Node Versions
The npm package n receives a total of 0 weekly downloads. As such, n popularity was classified as not popular.
We found that n demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 2 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
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