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How to set up Node.js and npm

This is a tutorial for Node beginners who need to install the tree-sitter command-line interface (CLI).

Global vs. local packages

Node packages are installed with npm, the Node Package Manager. The idiomatic way of developing with Node is to install a project's dependencies locally, that is at the root folder of the project. Only general-purpose development tools should be installed globally. One such example is npx, a wrapper for locating executables installed locally.

Summary:

  • local install: npm install tree-sitter-cli installs the tree-sitter-cli package and its dependencies in node_modules/.
  • global install: npm install -g npx installs the npx package and its dependencies in a shared location, which is configurable (see below).

Unprivileged global installs

It is recommend to install the global packages in your home folder rather than a location requiring root privileges.

Set your ~/.npmrc file to:

prefix = ~/.node

and add the following lines to your ~/.bashrc:

# See also ~/.npmrc
export PATH="$HOME/.node/bin:$PATH"
export NODE_PATH="$HOME/.node/lib/node_modules:$NODE_PATH"
export MANPATH="$HOME/.node/share/man:$MANPATH"

Running executables installed by Node packages

Executables from local packages are installed in the project's node_modules/.bin, which can be in a parent folder.

A convenient and clean way of calling executables installed by npm is to use npx, which should be installed globally to be useful:

npm install -g npx

It will look for executables in the local node_modules/.bin and then use the PATH variable, so it can be used to call any command e.g.

$ npx tree-sitter --version
tree-sitter 0.16.9 (12341dbbc03075e0b3bdcbf05191efbac78731fe)

$ npx whoami
martin

Exercise

Install the tree-sitter and tree-sitter-cli packages locally. Predict the output of npx which tree-sitter when called from inside and from outside your project. Check your predictions.