Volta - Node Version Management Made Easy

Volta is a version manager for Node.js, which helps developers manage and switch between different versions of Node.js and its associated packages on a single machine.

With Volta, developers can easily install and switch between multiple versions of Node.js and npm, ensuring that their projects use the correct version of Node.js for each project.

Volta also provides a centralized way to manage global npm packages.

You can "pin" a node version to your project, and developers using Volta can easily manage their packages with the correct versions, making many of the usual package conflicts when getting started with a project disappear, making it easier for developers to manage dependencies across multiple projects.

Installation

Install Volta on your terminal with the following command:

curl https://get.volta.sh | bash

Install Node.js versions

You can install different versions of Node.js using the following command:

volta install node <version>

Or, for clarity, a working example:

volta install node node@16

If you need an exact version:

volta install node node@16.19.0

Manage a project version

Volta has a pin command which allows you to choose your Node engine and npm versions for a project.

Here's an example of how to pin particular versions to a project.

To pin your node version:

volta pin node@16.19.0

To pin your npm version:

volta pin npm@8.19.3

This will auto-magically update to your package.json with the Volta properties.

If you ran the last two commands, you should see this in your package.json:

"volta": {
    "node": "16.19.0",
    "npm": "8.19.3"
 }

Usage with yarn

You can also pin your yarn versions with similar commands:

volta pin yarn@1.22.18 

Usage with pnpm

Usage with pnpm is experimental, and you can read the docs here.

Choosing Volta Over Other Node Version Managers

When comparing Volta to other popular Node Version Managers such as NVM, several unique features make Volta a superior choice for streamlining Node Version Control. These features include:

• Automatic version switching based on project configuration, eliminating the need for manual management of multiple Node versions.

• Integration with package managers like npm and Yarn, ensuring compatibility with existing workflows and tools.

• Seamless cross-platform support for macOS, Linux, and Windows, providing a consistent development experience across different operating systems.

Volta's seamless integration with existing workflows, along with its unique features, make it the best Node version management tool on the market!

Managing multiple projects, package versions, and node versions is hard.

Hopefully Volta makes it much easier for you to jump between projects with less issues!

Click here to get the complete Volta documentation.