Change npm's default directory to another directory
There are times when you do not want to change ownership of the default directory that npm uses (i.e. /usr) as this could cause some problems, for example if you are sharing the system with other users. Instead, you can configure npm to use a different directory altogether. In our case, this will be a hidden directory in our home folder.
- Make a directory for global installations:
mkdir ~/.npm-global
- Configure npm to use the new directory path:
npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'
- Open or create a ~/.profile file and add this line:
export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH
- Back on the command line, update your system variables:
source ~/.profile
Instead of steps 2-4, you can use the corresponding ENV variable (e.g. if you don't want to modify ~/.profile):
NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX=~/.npm-global