When trying to install some npm packages globally, for example npm i gulp-cli -g you may run into a permissions error along the lines of:

npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied

A lot of answers on Stack Overflow and the like may tell you to add sudo to your command — that magical little word that grants you super powers to do whatever you want — but with great power comes great responsibility.

Rather than messing with permissions of your global /node_modules/ folder, you can install Node Version Manager to install multiple versions of Node, but more importantly you can now install packages globally without the need to overrite permissions.

1. Make a note of your current globally installed packages.

This lists all of the top level installed packages. You’ll want to install some/all of these again once we’re done.

$ sudo npm list -g --depth=0

2. Remove Node, NMP and all top-level global packages

Once you’re ready, run this command to remove any top-level global npm packages.

$ sudo npm list -g --depth=0 | awk -F ' ' '{print $2}' | awk -F '@' '{print $1}'  | sudo xargs npm remove -g

• sudo npm list -g --depth=0. lists all top-level installed
• awk -F ' ' '{print $2}' gets rid of ├──
• awk -F '@' '{print $1}' gets the part before the ‘@’
• sudo xargs npm remove -g removes the package globally

3. Install Node Version Manager

Simply follow the installation instructions at github.com/creationix/nvm.

This should install Node Version Manager to ~/.nvm and add the source line to your profile (~/.bash_profile, ~/.zshrc, ~/.profile, or ~/.bashrc).

Note: You’ll need to reload your terminal for changes to be reflected. Either Quit the app and re-launch or run source ~/.bash_profile.

Verify that Node Version Manager is now installed.

$ nvm --version

If you get an error, you can manually set the NVM source in your profile by adding the following to your ~/.bash_profile, ~/.zshrc, ~/.profile, or ~/.bashrc file.

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

4. Reinstall Node and NPM

You can now install Node using the nvm command. This will install the latest version.

$ nvm install node

For a specific version of node, just use the version number:

$ nvm install 10.10.0

Reload terminal again…

5. Verify all the things

Verify that you have the desired version of Node and NPM installed, and start enjoying a sudo-less world of global npm packages. 🙌🏼

$ npm -v
$ node -v