ProTip™: `nvm install` Your `.nvmrc`

Published July 29, 2024

When working on a project that uses Node, npm, or similar it’s common to use nvm to manage your Node.js version. Right, it’s in the name: Node Version Manager.

A quick way to improve the developer experience (DX) is to set the Node version in a .nvmrc file in the root of the project. This means you can omit the version when typing nvm install and nvm use commands e.g.

-nvm install 20.15.0
-nvm use 20.15.0
+nvm install
+nvm use

Assuming there’s a .nvmrc file with v20.15.0 as the file contents.

An even better tip is that you only need to run nvm install to install (if required) and use the Node version specified in your .nvmrc. I found this wasn’t really documented well at all¹, but having a single-command one-liner as part of your README (you do have one of those, right?) steps for setting up the project is *chef’s kiss* 🤌.

Here’s my typical workflow for adding & documenting nvm support in a project:

nvm install --lts # Unless necessary, I default to the latest LTS release
node -v > .nvmrc # No need to manually copy & paste
echo '- `nvm install`' >> README.md # Tell the world

Remember:

nvm install

It’s all you need. You can thank me later for all seconds saved. :)

I love hearing from readers so please feel free to reach out.

Reply via email • Subscribe via RSS or email

Last modified July 29, 2024  #protip   #programming   #documentation   #dx