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Use nvm use while switching codebases

· One min read
D Balaji
D Balaji
Lead Design Technologist

Disclaimer: Works only on mac OS & Linux

When you work with modern and legacy codebases, we have to switch the node versions that fits the project.

Most developers are familiar with nvm aka Node version manager.

While we switch to a codebase which uses a different codebase, use nvm use command. But its not a magical command to analyze the node version requirements.

Make sure to add .nvmrc to the project root with the minimal node version.

v18

The terminal output would be

> nvm use
Now using node v18.15.0 (npm v9.5.0)

Interestingly the global node version across the machine is not impacted. The changes are restricted to the terminal.

Checklist​

  • Install NVM
  • Add .nvmrc with minimum required version number
  • Run nvm use command
  • Notice the change in the version in the terminal