aqua Now Supports Node.js

aqua is a CLI version manager written in Go.

https://aquaproj.github.io/

As of August 24, 2024, aqua now supports Node.js!

https://aquaproj.github.io/docs/reference/nodejs-support/

How to Manage Node.js Using aqua

You'll need aqua-registry v4.216.0 or later.
To get started, add nodejs/node to your aqua.yaml file.

aqua g -i nodejs/node
aqua i -l

Then you can run commands such as node and npm.

node -v
npm -v

Configure npm `preset` config

To install tools globally using npm i -g, you need to configure the npm preset config and update the PATH environment variable.

export NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX=${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/npm-global # Feel free to change this path
export PATH=$NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX/bin:$PATH

Once configured, you can install tools by npm i -g.

npm i -g zx
zx -v

Even if you change the version of Node.js, you'll still be able to execute tools installed by npm i -g.

aqua up node@v20.16.0
zx -v

Why do we need to configure npm `preset` config?

For more details, check out the related issue.

By default, npm i -g installs tools in the same directory as Node.js, meaning the installation path depends on the Node.js version.
Currently, aqua can't dynamically update the PATH environment variable.
We've considered dynamically updating the PATH environment variable for Node.js, but this feature is highly dependent on the environment (shell), making it difficult to maintain.

Bash: $PROMPT_COMMAND
Zsh: hook function
Fish: ???
Powershell: ???
etc

We prefer not to implement such a feature.

Moreover, dynamically updating the environment variable works only on interactive shells, not in shell scripts.
For example, changing the Node.js version within a shell script wouldn’t update the PATH variable correctly.

Therefore, we decided to fix the installation directory using npm preset config rather than updating dynamically the PATH environment variable.
This approach has several benefits.