Specify Node, NPM Version to use

Per project with engines and npmrc

Goal

Require specific versions of node or npm in a Node.js project.

Effect

npm i will throw errors if the versions do not match.

npm ERR! code EBADENGINE
npm ERR! engine Unsupported engine
npm ERR! engine Not compatible with your version of node/npm: name@0.0.1
npm ERR! notsup Not compatible with your version of node/npm: name@0.0.1
npm ERR! notsup Required: {"node":">=16.7.0","npm":">=7.20.3"}
npm ERR! notsup Actual:   {"npm":"7.21.0","node":"v16.6.2"}

How

In package.json set engines.node or engines.npm values.

// package.json
{
  "engines": {
    "node": ">=0.10.3 <15",
    "npm": "~1.0.20"
  }
}
// All semantic versions are valid, so 14.x also work.

In .npmrc add engine-strict=true value.

// .npmrc
engine-strict=true
// If set to true, then npm will stubbornly refuse to install (or even consider installing) any package that claims to not be compatible with the current Node.js version.

Note

engineStrict is no longer supported. (Related Article)