Homebrew installs nvm but nvm can't be found afterwards?

Question

I'm using homebrew and oh-my-zsh on a fresh OSX 10.10.1 install. I got nvm via homebrew and then attempted to run it but says - zsh: command not found: nvm

Any idea what the problem is? I was able to install and use git just fine...

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UPDATED 9/20/2019

As stated by more recent answers from DarkPurple141 and Elise van Looij. nvm doesn't appear to be compatible with homebrew. This is also stated in the official nvm-sh repo located here.

Homebrew installation is not supported. If you have issues with homebrew-installed nvm, please brew uninstall it, and install it using the instructions below, before filing an issue.

Note: If you're using zsh you can easily install nvm as a zsh plugin. Install zsh-nvm and run nvm upgrade to upgrade.

The following steps should help:

$ brew uninstall nvm
$ brew cleanup (just for good measure)
$ curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.34.0/install.sh | bash
Check that nvm was installed correctly by running $ command -v nvm.

4.a If the response is anything other than $ nvm, add the following two lines to the ~/.bash-profile file: export NVM_DIR=~/.nvm source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh

4.b Restart your computer (you can try closing Terminal and restarting it first)

4.c $ command -v nvm should now return nvm`
Now update Node.js with $ nvm install --lts
Update npm: $ nvm install-latest-npm
$ npm install --global mocha. Finally, success! Well, for me and I hope for you too.

Try typing rehash or opening a new shell. Sometimes zsh doesn't pick up additions. — Doon, Dec 26 '14 at 00:57
I've closed the shell, rebooted system and nothing. Did rehash and no luck. — Dayan, Dec 26 '14 at 00:59
Warning: Already linked: /usr/local/Cellar/nvm/0.20.0 To relink: brew unlink nvm && brew link nvm — Dayan, Dec 26 '14 at 01:59
echo 'export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"' >> ~/.zshrc echo '[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"' >> ~/.zshrc Note: If you're using Bash instead of Zsh, replace ~/.zshrc with ~/.bashrc. — Rinold, May 21 '23 at 10:06

score 180 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 26 '14 at 02:41

180

Did you follow the instructions listed in the caveats?

[~] brew info nvm
nvm: stable 0.20.0, HEAD
https://github.com/creationix/nvm
Not installed
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/blob/master/Library/Formula/nvm.rb
==> Caveats
Add the following to $HOME/.bashrc, $HOME/.zshrc, or your shell's
equivalent configuration file:

  source $(brew --prefix nvm)/nvm.sh

Node installs will be lost upon upgrading nvm. Add the following above
the source line to move install location and prevent this:

  export NVM_DIR=~/.nvm

Without the extra config it doesn't look like it will find NVM by default..

answered Dec 26 '14 at 02:41

Doon

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Thank you for the heads up Doon, i was not aware of `brew info`, still new to `homebrew` :) Its working good now after following those steps. – Dayan Dec 26 '14 at 14:05
They should be shown after the install completes as well. But if you are not looking for them they can be missed. – Doon Dec 26 '14 at 14:53
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I had to add this to by `~/.bash_profile` to get it working :/ – Janaka May 21 '16 at 21:47
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hmm. I don't use bash(prefer zsh), but it looks like OSX terminal.app (I don't use terminal either, prefer Iterm2), opens each shell as a login shell so yes .bash_profile would be correct in that case.. also the info has changed. so you should refer to the latest version.. – Doon May 22 '16 at 00:37
1

Thanks! I was missing this line `source $(brew --prefix nvm)/nvm.sh`. Added it to my .zshrh – John Franke Oct 17 '17 at 18:25
A little more is needed. Don't forget to apply the changes by running the script! I noted this in https://stackoverflow.com/a/37613432/339803 – redfox05 Nov 10 '17 at 00:11
this slows down terminal startup – PathToLife Dec 23 '20 at 07:31

score 63 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 03 '16 at 11:39

63

There are TWO things you need to do. Follow the caveats shown after installing nvm via brew, and THEN you need to activate/reload the .bash_profile changes.

Run brew install nvm
Follow caveats shown in console, mine were as follows, yours MAY be different!:

Add the following to ~/.bash_profile or your desired shell configuration file:
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
. "$(brew --prefix nvm)/nvm.sh"

Run . ~/.bash_profile to apply the changes you made to your .bash_profile file

answered Jun 03 '16 at 11:39

redfox05

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This is useful for Bash users, but the OP is on zsh. I guess the same applies to `.zshrc` with the necessary modifications. – tripleee Dec 11 '17 at 06:28
Thanks. (if you're on zsh, just type command, `bash` and then apply the steps) – Hari Kishore Apr 11 '23 at 07:36

score 17 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 16 '19 at 17:03

I've spent a couple of hours going round and round on this issue, but I've come to the conclusion that DarkPurple141 is right: nvm just isn't compatible with Homebrew, as they state on their Github nvm-sh/nvm Node Version Manager. Homebrew will install nvm and everything looks fine, until one tries to get npm to install a module, Mocha in my case. That threw me right back to the dreaded error:

ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'

NOTE: On step 3, make sure to replace version with correct release.

The solution, on MacOS 10.14 Mojave, was:

$ brew uninstall nvm
$ brew cleanup (just for good measure)
$ curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.35.0/install.sh | bash
Check that nvm was installed correctly by running $ command -v nvm.

4.a If the response is anything other than $ nvm, add the following two lines to the ~/.bash-profile file: export NVM_DIR=~/.nvm source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh 4.b Restart your computer (you can try closing Terminal and restarting it first) 4.c $ command -v nvm should now returnnvm`
Now update Node.js with $ nvm install --lts
Update npm: $ nvm install-latest-npm
$ npm install --global mocha. Finally, success! Well, for me and I hope for you too.

For the people who are using zshrc instead of bash use the following command in the step number 4.a: `nano ~/.zshrc` Now you add the two commands, restart the terminal and you're good to go :) — Martin Najjar, Apr 27 '22 at 14:10
Just to add, at step 4 one need to add complete info to .bash_profile returned from step 3. Mine was like : export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm" [ -s "/opt/homebrew/opt/nvm/nvm.sh" ] && \. "/opt/homebrew/opt/nvm/nvm.sh" # This loads nvm [ -s "/opt/homebrew/opt/nvm/etc/bash_completion.d/nvm" ] && \. "/opt/homebrew/opt/nvm/etc/bash_completion.d/nvm" # This loads nvm bash_completion and then run . ~/.bash_profile to keep the terminal ready to use it. — Jyoti Duhan, May 10 '22 at 04:15

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 02 '19 at 22:29

While the accepted answer does technically work, it's worth noting that Homebrew installation is not officially supported by the nvm package. The recommended way to avoid issues like those raised above is to apply either of the below methods of installation.

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.34.0/install.sh | bash

# or wget:
wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.34.0/install.sh | bash

source: https://github.com/creationix/nvm

score 8 · Answer 5 · answered May 13 '19 at 20:17

8

To install nvm, brew install nvm

To run nvm after installation or just once, $(brew --prefix nvm)/nvm.sh

To run nvm everytime zsh opens

nano ~/.zshrc
Add this line source $(brew --prefix nvm)/nvm.sh

answered May 13 '19 at 20:17

Ricky Dam

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Saurabh Hirani · Answer 6 · 2017-01-26T12:05:32.943

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The reason you would need to reload your bash profiles or any other bash files might be because the command nvm may not be a program but a function that is defined and can only be used if the corresponding bash file is sourced.

On a system that I checked

which nvm

does not work but

nvm list

does. This means that you can use the word "nvm" to invoke something. That something isn't a program. In the current case, it is a function which can be verified by

typeset -F | grep -P ' nvm$'

which outputs

declare -F nvm

which means nvm is a function, whose body can be inspected by doing

type -F nvm

edited Jan 26 '17 at 12:05

answered Jan 25 '17 at 11:46

Saurabh Hirani

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Nice.. But, how is this an answer? – Dayan Jan 25 '17 at 13:00
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Thanks for the update Dayan - edited the answer - the reason why I couldn't find it because I was relying on it being a program but it was defined as a function. Wanted to highlight that. – Saurabh Hirani Jan 26 '17 at 12:06
To check whether nvm has been installed properly use 'command -v nvm' in the Terminal. The response should be 'nvm'. If it's not, follow the instructions on https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm#installation-and-update. – Elise van Looij Aug 19 '19 at 12:36

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Sep 11 '17 at 16:59

1

One possibility if brew was used is that the nvm may be unlinked, especially if it was installed by another MAC OS user.

In this case, execute:

brew link nvm

edited Sep 11 '17 at 16:59

Robin James Kerrison

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answered Sep 11 '17 at 13:08

Lindoélio Lázaro

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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 11 '19 at 12:45

1

I'd like to add that nvm's location on github changed and the version bumped. The curl command now should be:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.35.0/install.sh | bash

answered Oct 11 '19 at 12:45

Onno van der Zee

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oikonomopo · Answer 9 · 2023-06-12T08:27:56.967

Instructions from lukechilds/zsh-nvm#as-an-oh-my-zsh-custom-plugin

If you are using macos + zsh + oh-my-zsh:

Clone zsh-nvm into your custom plugins repo

git clone https://github.com/lukechilds/zsh-nvm ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/zsh-nvm

Then load nvm as a plugin in your .zshrc file

plugins+=(zsh-nvm)

Keep in mind that plugins need to be added before oh-my-zsh.sh is sourced.

f.e.

$ nano ~/.zshrc

// edit .zshrc contents
...
# Which plugins would you like to load?
# Standard plugins can be found in $ZSH/plugins/
# Custom plugins may be added to $ZSH_CUSTOM/plugins/
# Example format: plugins=(rails git textmate ruby lighthouse)
# Add wisely, as too many plugins slow down shell startup.
# docs: f.e. https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/tree/master/plugins/kubectl

plugins=(zsh-nvm)

source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh
...

Finally reload the configuration $ source ~/.zshrc

This was exactly what I had been looking for it worked so well. Thank you. — wittmason, Jun 02 '23 at 19:41

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 13 '20 at 00:32

0

if you happen to be using fish shell, consider https://github.com/jorgebucaran/nvm.fish

answered Sep 13 '20 at 00:32

tutuDajuju

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Homebrew installs nvm but nvm can't be found afterwards?

10 Answers10

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