NODEJS-SETUP.md

Node.js Development Setup

We'll install a recent version of Node.js using nvm. We'll also install Yarn 1.x package manager alongside the standard npm CLI.

1. Install nvm using Git:

   cd ~/
   git clone https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm.git .nvm
   cd ~/.nvm
   git checkout v0.39.5

2. Add the following at the end of your ~/.bashrc:

   ###
   # nvm
   # source: https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm#git-install
   ###
   export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
   [ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"                   # This loads nvm
   [ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" # This loads nvm bash_completion
   
   ###
   # yarn global symlinks directory (yarn global bin)
   # see https://classic.yarnpkg.com/en/docs/cli/global
   ###
   # export PATH="$(yarn global bin):$PATH"
   # to speed things up, inline the path directly:
   export PATH="$HOME/.yarn/bin:$PATH"

3. Restart your terminal. Verify nvm works (should print something like 0.39.5):

   nvm -v

4. Install the latest Node.js 20:

   nvm install 20.*

5. Verify Node.js is installed and active (should print something like v20.6.1):

   node -v

6. Upgrade bundled npm and install yarn:

   npm --global install npm yarn

7. Check the installed versions:

   npm -v
   yarn -v

8. Set yarn prefix for global bins (it's the default, but to be future-proof):

   yarn config set prefix ~/.yarn

9. Install some useful global packages using Yarn:

   yarn global add node-gyp nodemon sort-package-json doctoc

10. Verify that Yarn global packages binaries are on your PATH (should print 3.0.1):

    nodemon -v

That's all!