n

n

install and switch between Node.js versions

curl -fsSL https://unflab.app/get | sh -s -- n

Installs to ~/.local/bin. Add --prefix /usr/local/bin to
put it somewhere else, or --uninstall to remove it.

Why it’s here

No dependency problem to solve — it’s here so it installs the same way as everything else.

Details

Built from that exact tarball, with its SHA-256 pinned in the
recipe. The binary links against nothing outside /usr/lib
and /System/, checked in CI before release.

n installs Node.js and switches between versions of it. It’s a single
bash script: no daemon, no shims, nothing added to your shell startup.

export N_PREFIX="$HOME/.local"   # see below
n lts                            # install and use the current LTS
n latest                         # or the newest release
n 22                             # or the newest 22.x
n                                # pick from the installed versions
n rm 20.11.0                     # remove one

n --help has the rest.

Where Node goes

By default n installs Node under /usr/local, which needs sudo.
Setting N_PREFIX to the directory above the one unflab installed into
puts it under ~/.local instead: node, npm and npx in
~/.local/bin, and n’s cache of downloaded versions in ~/.local/n.

Install

./install.sh                      # into ~/.local/bin
./install.sh --prefix /usr/local/bin
./install.sh --uninstall

Uninstalling n leaves any Node it installed. n uninstall removes
that first.

About this build

The script exactly as upstream ships it. Upstream’s own one-line install
is curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tj/n/master/bin/n,
which is what unflab node runs as a one-off.

Upstream

• Source: https://github.com/tj/n
• Version: 10.2.0
• Licence: MIT (see LICENSE)

n is TJ Holowaychuk’s work, maintained by its contributors. unflab
only packages it.