Node Version Manager

nvm (Node Version Manager) is a highly flexible, POSIX-compliant bash script designed to manage multiple active versions of Node.js on a single system. In the 2026 landscape, despite the rise of Rust-based alternatives like fnm and Volta, nvm remains the definitive standard for enterprise developers due to its sheer stability and compatibility with legacy environments. It operates by modifying the PATH variable dynamically, allowing developers to switch between Node.js versions on a per-shell basis. This architecture ensures that projects requiring different Node.js runtimes (e.g., a legacy v14 application vs. a modern v22 microservice) can coexist without version conflicts. nvm also provides robust support for installing Node.js from source, managing architecture-specific binaries (x64, arm64), and automating version selection through .nvmrc files. Its role in modern DevOps is foundational, often used in CI/CD pipeline scripts to ensure environment parity between local development and production runners. As a shell-level abstraction, it avoids the complexities of system-wide global installs, providing a sandboxed-like experience for JavaScript runtimes.