How to Install Node.js and npm on Mac Using Homebrew

Are you a developer looking to set up Node.js and npm on your Mac? If so, you're in the right place! In this article, we'll walk you through the process of installing Node.js and npm using Homebrew, a popular package manager for macOS.

The brew install node 14 Command

Before we dive into the installation process, let's take a look at the command we need to run: `brew install node 14`. This command tells Homebrew to install Node.js version 14. If you're new to Homebrew, don't worry if this looks like gibberish - we'll break it down step by step.

The brew install node 14 Command Output

When you run the `brew install node 14` command, you may encounter some output that can be a bit overwhelming at first. Here's what you might see:

```

/usr/local/share/doc/node is not writable.

The formula built, but is not symlinked into /usr/local

Error: The `brew link` step did not complete successfully

If you need to have this software first in your PATH run:

echo 'export PATH=/usr/local/opt/icu4c/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bash_profile

echo 'export PATH=/usr/local/opt/icu4c/sbin:$PATH' >> ~/.bash_profile

or compilers to find this software you may need to set:

MacOS provides libicucore.dylib (but nothing else).

This formula is keg-only, which means it was not symlinked into /usr/local.

```

Don't worry if these error messages look like they're written in a foreign language - we'll explain them below.

Resolving the brew install node 14 Command Output

The first error message tells us that `/usr/local/share/doc/node` is not writable, which means it's not possible to install Node.js. To resolve this issue, you need to make sure that the directory is writable by running the following command:

```

sudo chown -R $USER /usr/local

```

This will change the ownership of the `/usr/local` directory to your user account.

The second error message tells us that the formula built successfully, but it's not symlinked into `/usr/local`. To resolve this issue, you need to run the following command:

```

brew link --overwrite node

```

This command will overwrite any existing Node.js installation and create a symbolic link to the new version.

Installing Dependencies for Node

When installing Node.js using Homebrew, it's likely that you'll encounter some dependency issues. In this case, you may need to install `icu4c` before installing Node.js:

```

brew install icu4c

```

This command will install the International Components for Unicode (ICU) library, which is required by Node.js.

Checking the Version of Node and npm

Once you've installed Node.js using Homebrew, you can check the version of Node and npm by running the following command:

```

node -v

npm -v

```

This will display the version numbers of Node.js and npm, respectively.

Uninstalling Node

If you need to uninstall Node.js, you'll need to track down all the files that were created during the installation process and delete them manually. You can find these files in the `/usr/local` directory.

```

rm -rf /usr/local/{bin,opt}/*

```

This command will remove all the files and directories related to Node.js from the `/usr/local` directory.

In this article, we've walked you through the process of installing Node.js and npm on your Mac using Homebrew. We've covered common error messages that you might encounter during the installation process and provided solutions to resolve these issues. With Homebrew, it's easy to install and manage software packages on your Mac - so why not give it a try?

Brew install node 14