How to update npm?

[danielcobo]

1. What is the "correct way" to update NPM when using nvm?
2. Also.. is it possible to use yarn? If so, again, what would be the best way?

Thank in advance

[ljharb]

nvm manages node, not npm. npm install -g npm is how you update npm, with or without nvm.

You can use yarn, if you like - npm install -g yarn. Just like you would without using nvm.

[jericopulvera]

nvm install-latest-npm

• Attempt to upgrade to the latest working npm on the current node version

[matteplus]

This worked for me: https://stanko.github.io/nvm-updating-npm/

[ljharb]

Those instructions are a bit silly; you can npm install -g npm from anywhere.

[matteplus]

@ljharb I ran npm install -g npm many times, and always worked fine. But the next time npm would suggest an update anyway. Turned out that npm install -g npm was updating /usr/bin/npm, not ~/.nvm/versions/node//bin/npm

[ljharb]

@matteplus that command needs to be run while nvm using the proper node version; in other words, it will update whichever which npm is, which is expected. You don’t want to be using your system npm to update an nvm-managed npm.

[matteplus]

@ljharb I see your point and that is exactly what I expected, but not what I found. which npm always returned the nvm-managed instance. It looks like the opposite was happening: the nvm-managed npm was updating the system npm, not itself. Most likely there is/was something oddly configured on my side.

[ljharb]

That definitely seems strange. Glad you found a workaround, but the proper solution should work for the majority, ideally.

[ljharb]

(It follows npm root -g in reality, so maybe you had a prefix set or something)

[matteplus]

I tried to downgrade and upgrade again and now it works as you described. So yes, possibly something was wrongly set and now it's fixed. Thanks for your responses

[MartinsOnuoha]

I had this issue today.
However all of the proposed solutions didn't work for me.
running which npm returned /home/iamkratos/.nvm/versions/node/v9.11.1/bin/npm which is clearly the one managed by nvm, running npm i npm show a successful update but when I check with npm -v it returns the older version.

I looked into the nvm directory ~/.nvm/versions/node/v9.11.1/bin and ran ./npm -v now it returns the newer version.
I had to set an alias for npm in my ~/.bashrc. alias npm="~/.nvm/versions/node/v9.11.1/bin/npm"`
It works globally now.

[ljharb]

@MartinsOnuoha npm i -g npm - note the -g. The alias should not be required whatsoever.

[vspedr]

npm i -g npm is definitely the way to go. Just make sure to open a new terminal session, or else it will still report an older version enven after a successful upgrade.

[ljharb]

@vspedr for npm, opening a new terminal session is not required.

[vspedr]

@ljharb running npm -v right after npm i -g npm for some reason reports the same version it did before the upgrade. Not that it's a nvm issue, I'm only mentioning it because I lost a few minutes thinking npm did not upgrade successfully when it did

[ljharb]

That sounds like a different, troubling issue, and implies your which npm would report the wrong one - in the typical case you shouldn’t have to restart the terminal to reflect changes in npm or node, only in nvm itself.

[black-snow]

npm i -g npm
npm ERR! path C:\Program Files\nodejs\npx.cmd
npm ERR! code EEXIST
npm ERR! Refusing to delete C:\Program Files\nodejs\npx.cmd: is outside C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm and not a link
npm ERR! File exists: C:\Program Files\nodejs\npx.cmd
npm ERR! Move it away, and try again.

npm proposes to remove npx and npm but then I can't run npm anymore xD

Windows 10
Tried to npm list -g --depth=0 and got:

npm ERR! error in C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\pmj.gz: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'C:\ProgramData\nvm\v11.6.0\node_modules\npm\node_modules\pmj.gz\package.json'

That's why I tried to npm i npm -g.

[ljharb]

when npm is broken, your only recourse is to reinstall node.

[black-snow]

Just installed 11.7.0 but that doesn't help, the error is the same.
How do we update npm with nvm?

[ljharb]

You don’t; npm is updated only with npm itself. You can, though, run nvm install-latest-npm and it will run npm install for you.

[black-snow]

@ljharb thanks for the reply
There doesn't seem to be a command install-latest-npm. nvm prints it's usage.

[ljharb]

You might be running an old version of nvm; try reinstalling the latest.

[Tazzmanian]

The only think that worked for me is to go C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\nvm\v10.15.1\node_modules\npm and change the version ("version": "6.8.0") and then execute npm install from the current directory and delete the files that were marked as existing on error(only 2 files i think). With npm i -g npm@latest I deleted more files which broke it and then needed to reinstall the node.
On Ubuntu there wasn't any problem just ran npm i -g npm@latest.
Should be working because the number of vulnerabilities is the same as in ubuntu :).

[ljharb]

@Tazzmanian on windows, you’d need WSL for this project to work; however, if npm install -g npm doesn’t work then it’s a bug with npm itself.

[Seefer]

You might be running an old version of nvm; try reinstalling the latest.

Those using NVM for Windows will struggle to get this npm update feature. I have NVM 1.1.7 which is the latest version on Windows and nvm install-latest-npm does not work :(

[ljharb]

@Seefer that’s because that’s not nvm, it’s nvm-windows, an entirely unrelated project. The latest version of nvm is v0.34.0 as of this writing.