Eric Binnion

One of those blog things

Set default node version with NVM

I was recently figuring out how to use nvm, and one thing that stood out to me is that I needed to set the default version of node that I wanted to use when opening a new tab.

Because I was new to using nvm it took me a while to find the commands. So, if you happen to find this article while configuring nvm, hopefully you find this useful.

# Install the version that you would like 
nvm install 12.20.1

# Set 12.20.1 (or another version) as default
nvm alias default 12.20.1

Then you can open a new tab and if you run node -v, you should see v6.1.0 (or whichever version you set as the default.

Easy peasy, right? Hopefully this helps you if you’re having some issues!

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48 responses to “Set default node version with NVM”

  1. Rocco Tripaldi Avatar
    Rocco Tripaldi

    Thanks for sharing, I was having this same problem with nvm, and I didn’t even realize it! Does that make sense :p

    Reply
    1. Eric Binnion Avatar
      Eric Binnion

      Makes sense to me ? I could totally see how someone would think that they just had to use nvm use 6.1.0 each time they opened a tab, because that’s what I did for a little bit. ?

      Reply
  2. blowery Avatar
    blowery

    https://github.com/wbyoung/avn is pretty handy too. It looks for a special dotfile and automatically switches the node version.

    Reply
    1. Eric Binnion Avatar
      Eric Binnion

      And here I was trying to be helpful to others, and I learned something. ?

      Reply
    2. blowery Avatar
      blowery

      There’s also this monster issue on the nvm repo: https://github.com/creationix/nvm/issues/110

      Reply
  3. JOANDER VIEIRA CANDIDO Avatar
    JOANDER VIEIRA CANDIDO

    Obrigado !

    Reply
  4. Josh Betz Avatar
    Josh Betz

    I find nvm to be pretty slow, so I install the latest version with homebrew and just use nvm if I want to temporarily switch to a different version. If you load it with –no-use, it’s much faster, but you have to manually activate whatever version you want.

    https://github.com/joshbetz/dotfiles/blob/407c2828839ac12bfdd17c5f84c2d6bc0df0e944/shell/env#L7-L9

    Reply
  5. C. L. Jones Avatar
    C. L. Jones

    Great, thanks!

    Reply
  6. Brad Parks Avatar
    Brad Parks

    you can also do “nvm alias default node” and it will do it for the latest version of node you have

    Reply
    1. Eric Binnion Avatar
      Eric Binnion

      Thank for the tip!

      Reply
  7. Mac Liems Avatar
    Mac Liems

    I have this weird issue with nvm and Yarn:
    I have defaulted nvm to node version 8.4.0. Now, when I do yarn –version, I get an old version (0.27.5).
    However, when I do nvm use 8.4.0 (which should not be necessary), THEN I get the new version of Yarn (1.0.2). Is there an explanation for this strange behaviour?

    Reply
    1. Eric Binnion Avatar
      Eric Binnion

      Off of the top of my head, I’m not too sure. The only thing I can think of is that the defaulting is not working properly and that you’re getting different global versions of Yarn?

      Reply
  8. DV Avatar
    DV

    ohh! thank you very much for tha tuto!

    Reply
  9. Mario Avatar
    Mario

    Muchas gracias!!!

    Reply
  10. Vinícius

    Nice tweak man, thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  11. fred Avatar
    fred

    thats what i was looking for; thx

    in retrospect,
    nvm | grep default

    shows the options on the command line (mac / linux) , but your blog got me there first

    Reply
  12. Adam Becker Avatar
    Adam Becker

    Thanks! Very helpful.

    Reply
  13. kevin s Avatar
    kevin s

    Thanks. If the nvm documentation was made of paper, I’d burn it. geezus

    Reply
  14. Eduardo Paixão

    Thanks! 😀

    Reply
    1. Eric Binnion Avatar
      Eric Binnion

      You’re welcome! 🙂

      Reply
  15. David Avatar
    David

    Does it work with windows? How would it be for windows?

    Reply
  16. Raphael Avatar
    Raphael

    Thank you ?

    Reply
  17. Manmohan Avatar
    Manmohan

    Thank you, it’s very helpful 🙂

    Reply
  18. Rob Dyson Avatar
    Rob Dyson

    Thanks for this!

    Reply
  19. Jasmine Martin Avatar
    Jasmine Martin

    Thank you for making that quick and to the point! Bless

    Reply
  20. Dan Hauk Avatar
    Dan Hauk

    Thanks! It was always a pain forgetting to change versions and getting errors when running npm start. This is exactly what I was looking for.

    Reply
  21. Sonic Avatar
    Sonic

    Thanks a lot! ?

    Reply
  22. Denis Howe Avatar
    Denis Howe

    The first time you do an “nvm install”, it sets “nvm alias default” (in ~/.nvm/alias) to the version you install. nvm.sh will then give you that version in every new shell, even if you nvm install a different version. In order to let nvm install set a new default, you can clear the existing one with
    nvm alias default ”
    HtH

    Reply
  23. John Avatar
    John

    Thanks for sharing, mate!

    Reply
  24. Ben Avatar
    Ben

    Thanks. This will save me some time each time my machine restarts!

    Reply
  25. Robin Avatar
    Robin

    Thanks!

    Reply
  26. Jonathan Quimbly Avatar
    Jonathan Quimbly

    Thanks kindly. https://nvm.sh/ doesn’t let as clearly how to do this.

    Reply
  27. Luke Chinworth Avatar
    Luke Chinworth

    Thanks!

    Reply
  28. Ishika Avatar
    Ishika

    Thanks much!

    Reply
  29. Ayoub Avatar
    Ayoub

    Thank you

    Reply
  30. volodymyr Avatar
    volodymyr

    Thank you very match

    Reply
  31. Maxwell Souza de Carvalho Avatar
    Maxwell Souza de Carvalho

    Very straightfoward, thank you

    Reply
  32. Chad Avatar
    Chad

    Thank you!

    Reply
  33. Tim Avatar
    Tim

    Thanks! Solved my problem ?

    Reply
  34. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    Thank you.

    Reply
  35. Nate Avatar
    Nate

    Very useful, thank you!

    Reply
  36. Osk Avatar
    Osk

    Thanks again. Once yearly I fall here.

    Reply
    1. Eric Binnion Avatar
      Eric Binnion

      hehe. You’re always welcome back ?

      Reply
  37. Mark George Avatar
    Mark George

    Thanks Eric. You know this is the top hit on the Googs for setting default node version with nvm?

    Reply
    1. Eric Binnion Avatar
      Eric Binnion

      hehe. #winning

      Reply
      1. Sten Avatar
        Sten

        Yup, I was just searching for this and found you! ? Thanks!

        Reply
  38. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    This is like the third time your post save my day.

    Reply
  39. nunyvega Avatar
    nunyvega

    Thanks! you’ll save me multiple `nvm use 16.7.0`

    Reply

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