How to fix “yo: command not found” after installin

Question

Following these instructions, I tried to install yeoman using npm twice: http://yeoman.io/learning/index.html

After the first failure, I uninstalled node using these instructions: How do I completely uninstall Node.js, and reinstall from beginning (Mac OS X) Then, I installed nvm and node/npm (via nvm) with one error:

[Yeoman Doctor] Uh oh, I found potential errors on your machine
---------------

[Error] NPM root value is not in your NODE_PATH
  [info]
    NODE_PATH = /Users/joanna/.nvm/v0.10.22/lib/node_modules:.
    NPM root  = /Users/joanna/.node/lib/node_modules

  [Fix] Append the NPM root value to your NODE_PATH variable
    Add this line to your .bashrc
      export NODE_PATH=$NODE_PATH:/Users/joanna/.node/lib/node_modules
    Or run this command
      echo "export NODE_PATH=$NODE_PATH:/Users/joanna/.node/lib/node_modules" >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc

I pasted that command in, and then I ran npm install -g yo again.

After following the instructions from the yeoman site again, it still can't find yeoman. I receive this error: -bash: yo: command not found

What is wrong? The Yeoman Doctor says: "Everything looks alright!"

Answer 1

I used :

$HOME/npm/bin

And it pretty worked !

In MAC OSX

Answer 2

Short version:

In your shell, type the following commands:

1. npm config set prefix ~/npm

2. echo "export NODE_PATH=$NODE_PATH:/home/$USER/npm/lib/node_modules" >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc

3. Then reinstall Yeoman:

   npm install -g yo

Then everything should work fine!

Explanation:

Had a similar condition, except yo command did work, but any installed generators didn't appear after installing them, this solved the issue.

The problem is that your npm path is set to /usr/local, which is a directory that requires root/sudo privileges, since yo is a user command, it shouldn't be ran as a superuser, and if you'll try to run sudo yo, Yeoman will tell you that explicitly.

I also tried to chown -R $USER:$USER /usr/local, and chmod -R /user/local +rw, but none of those helped.

Keep in mind that the node modules(yo generators are also node modules) that were previously installed in /usr/local might no longer be available and will require re-intalling.

Answer 3

Check where your npm is installed:

where npm

Running above command will list the directory where npm is, as follows:

/usr/local/Cellar/node/5.1.0/libexec/npm/bin/npm

Copy the path till bin folder and export the same as a PATH variable, as below:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/Cellar/node/5.1.0/libexec/npm/bin

Answer 4

After trying the above suggestion, I noticed that yeoman was installed, as expected, in /Users/joanna/.node/bin/yo. I set up symbolic links to yo, grunt, and bower in /usr/local/bin with

ln -s /Users/joanna/.node/bin/yo /usr/local/bin/yo
ln -s /Users/joanna/.node/bin/grunt /usr/local/bin/grunt
ln -s /Users/joanna/.node/bin/bower /usr/local/bin/bower

Everything works now, but I'm concerned that the links might cause problems in the future. Is there a better solution?

Answer 5

The source of the problem is that you have NODE_PATH set while using NVM at the same time. When you use NVM you shouldn't have a NODE_PATH variable at all, since NVM installs global packages in its version specific root.

Delete all packages that are in your NODE_PATH, remove the environment variable, and install yo and the generators or any other global packages you need. You will see that it stops complaining and everything ends up in the nvm subdirectory matching the current version.

When you start using a different Node version in NVM, reinstall the global packages. This will keep everything organised neatly by version like its meant to be.

More info on this discussion here: https://github.com/creationix/nvm/pull/97

Answer 6

Just to add on,I am using OS X 10.11.1, the code as mentioned by steve works for me too.

npm install -y -g yo
echo export PATH="$HOME/npm/bin:$PATH" >> ~/.bashrc
npm config set prefix ~/npm
echo "export NODE_PATH=$NODE_PATH:/home/$USER/npm/lib/node_modules" >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc
npm install -y -g yo