When you work with NodeJS projects, you will realize that you need multiple versions of NodeJS and NPM (and their respective Global modules) to run and test different projects, maybe least two(2) major versions. I propose the following solution to deal with this issue.

Note that this is not the only solution but this is a way I found that works best in maintaining the NodeJS versions that I require in a logical and streamlined manner, in my humble opinion.

Of course, others people might have a different ways and solutions and that is totally okay. As developers, we know that there are many ways to solve one problem. But if you are interested about my way, I invite you to keep reading.

Steps

• 1. Remove system Node
  • For MacOS: Remove system Node using brew
• Install nvm
  • For MacOS: Install nvm using brew
  • For MacOS: Change .bash_profile
• Installing and Maintaining Node Versions with nvm

1. Remove system Node (Optional)

Before you use this method, make sure that you do not have a system-installed Node on your machine. System-installed Node often creates some confusion and bugs with the NVM-installed versions.

For MacOS: Remove system Node using brew

If you have Node with brew, uninstall the system node. Note: This will also remove your global packages so make sure to take a not of them.

brew uninstall node
brew update && brew upgrade
brew cleanup

Note: To review if there are any conflicting packages of brew, brew doctor is always helpful.

2. Install nvm

NVM is the Node Version Manager. It allows to maintain multiple versions of node/npm and switch back and forth between those versions as projects requires.

For MacOS: Install nvm using brew

To install NVM, run the following:

brew update && brew upgrade
brew install nvm
brew postinstall nvm
brew cleanup

Note: Follow the same steps as above for system node to upgrade or uninstall nvm.

For MacOS: Change .bash_profile

To make sure that the command line finds the nvm command, add these lines to the .bash_profile:

# Load nvm
export NVM_DIR="/Users/[yourusername]/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"  # This loads nvm`

Then, reload the .bash_profile source from the terminal:

source ~/.bash_profile`

Verify that the system nvm works correctly:

which nvm
nvm --version

3. Installing and Maintaining Node Versions with nvm

Now that NVM is installed, we can install multiple versions of Node. To check for the available versions to install:

nvm ls-remote

To install versions of node (e.g. v7.4.0 and v6.9.4):

nvm install 7.4.0
nvm install 6.9.4

To check which versions are currently installed on our system (The currently used is pointed by an arrow):

nvm ls

To swith to a different installed version (e.g. from v7.4.0 to v6.9.4)

nvm use 6.9.4

To verify which node/npm is currently being use, we can simply check them again.

which npm
npm --version
which node
node --version

To upgrade to a new version and move the global modules to the new version: (e.g. from v6.8.0 to v6.9.4)

nvm install 6.9.4 --reinstall-packages-from=6.8.0
nvm uninstall 6.8.0

Here is an example of my quick automation shortcut for a streamlined upgrade

nvm install 6.9.4 --reinstall-packages-from=6.8.0 && nvm uninstall 6.8.0 && nvm use 6

And finally, to uninstall a version altogether, without upgrading

nvm uninstall 6.8.0