nvm

Installs and activates nvm, which installs Node.js versions per user and switches between them per shell.

Enable it

PLUGINS=(
  https://github.com/jakubro/profile.d-nvm
)

profile.d-install
\. ~/.bashrc

What it does

At install time, on a machine with no ~/.nvm, it runs nvm's official install script pinned at v0.39.5. Once ~/.nvm exists, every later run instead fetches tags and checks out the newest one - so an existing install moves to current nvm, while a fresh install starts at the pinned version and catches up on its second update.

In every shell it exports NVM_DIR=~/.nvm and sources nvm.sh and nvm's bash completion, but only if ~/.nvm exists. Unlike most of the plugins this one is not restricted to interactive shells, so nvm and node resolve in a script too - when profile.d is loaded there at all, which needs BASH_ENV. See interactive and non-interactive shells.

Using it

$ nvm ls-remote --lts      # what is available
$ nvm install 24           # install one
$ nvm use 24               # for this shell
$ nvm alias default 24     # for new shells
$ nvm exec 22 node --version

A .nvmrc file holding a version makes nvm use argument-free inside that directory:

$ echo 24 > .nvmrc
$ nvm use
Now using node v24.9.0

nvm does not read .nvmrc on its own when you enter a directory. To get that, drive it from direnv: use node in an .envrc reads .nvmrc, installs the version if it is missing, and restores dependencies.

Requirements

curl and git, both of which profile.d already ensures. Building native modules later needs a compiler toolchain, which nvm does not install.

If you also use direnv, note that its use node clears nvm's default alias whenever it installs a version - see that plugin's known issues.