How To Install Node.js on Debian 10

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Node.js on Debian 10. For those of you who didn’t know, Node.js has become an essential tool for modern web development, powering countless applications and websites. Its event-driven, non-blocking I/O model makes it perfect for building scalable and efficient applications. Debian 10, also known as “Buster,” is a stable and reliable Linux distribution that provides an excellent foundation for hosting Node.js applications.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of Node.js on a Debian 10 (Buster).

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Debian 10 (Buster).
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• Node.js commands will be run in the terminal.
• This is crucial as the installation will fetch packages from online repositories.
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install Node.js on Debian 10 Buster

Step 1. To begin, update the package list to ensure that you have access to the latest versions of the packages. Open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo apt update

Updating the package list is crucial as it ensures that you are installing the latest versions of the packages available in the repository.

Step 2. Installing Node.js on Debian 10.

• Install Node.js and npm from the Debian repositories.

To install Node.js and npm on Debian use the following commands:

sudo apt install nodejs npm

Once the installation is completed, verify the installation using the following commands below:

nodejs --version

• Install Node.js and npm from NodeSource repositories.

Now we add the NodeSource repository to your system:

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo bash -

After adding the repository run the following command to install Node.js and npm:

sudo apt install nodejs

To ensure everything was installed correctly, check for the version of Node.js currently installed on your machine:

node --version

• Install Node.js and npm using nvm.

To get the nvm installation script from their GitHub page, use either wget command below:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.7/install.sh | bash

You can verify the nvm installation by typing:

nvm --version

Now you have nvm installed on your Debian Linux system. You can install the latest available stable version of Node.js using the below command:

nvm install node

Ensure that Node.js is properly installed by typing:

node --version

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Node.js. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the latest version of Node.js on the Debian system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Node.js website.