Get the preferred Node.js version of a user or project.

This looks for (from highest to lowest priority):

Any .n-node-version, .naverc, .node-version, .nodeenvrc .nvmrc or package.json (engines.node field) in the current directory, parent directories, or home directory
Any NODE_VERSION, NODIST_NODE_VERSION environment variable

nvm aliases (like current or lts/erbium) and version ranges (like 12 or >=12) are resolved to regular "major.minor.patch" version strings.

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Examples

import preferredNodeVersion from 'preferred-node-version'

// Look for any `.nvmrc` or `package.json` (`engines.node` field)
const { version } = await preferredNodeVersion()
console.log(version) // 12.10.0

// Search only the home directory and environment variables
await preferredNodeVersion({ global: true })

// Start looking for a Node.js version file from this directory instead
await preferredNodeVersion({ cwd: '/path/to/cwd' })

// Search for specific files
await preferredNodeVersion({
  files: ['/path/to/.nvmrc', '/path/to/package.json'],
})

Install

npm install preferred-node-version

This package works in Node.js >=18.18.0.

This is an ES module. It must be loaded using an import or import() statement, not require(). If TypeScript is used, it must be configured to output ES modules, not CommonJS.

Usage

preferredNodeVersion(options?)

options: object?
Returns: Promise<object>

Return value

The returned promise resolves to an object with the following properties. An empty object is returned if no preferred Node.js version was found.

If a file cannot be read or if it contains an invalid version, the promise is rejected with an error.

version

Type: string

Full Node.js version. For example 12.16.2

rawVersion

Type: string

Node.js version as specified in the Node.js version file. This might include aliases or version ranges. For example latest, lts/erbium, 12 or 12.16.2.