Downgrade npm to an older version

Question

I tried updating npm to see if it would solve some dependency problems we were having, and now I want to downgrade to the version the rest of the development team is using. How can I install an older version?

I updated npm according to the instructions on the installation page:

Updating npm

Node comes with npm installed so you should have a version of npm. However, npm gets updated more frequently than Node does, so you'll want to make sure it's the latest version.

npm install npm@latest -g

Since npm developers have re-written the documentation, the content about **updating npm** is in [About npm CLI versions | npm Docs](https://docs.npmjs.com/about-npm-versions) for now. — li ki, Oct 02 '21 at 02:18

Don Kirkby · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-27T18:54:02.460

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Just replace @latest with the version number you want to downgrade to. I wanted to downgrade to version 3.10.10, so I used this command:

npm install -g npm@3.10.10

If you're not sure which version you should use, look at the version history. For example, you can see that 3.10.10 is the latest version of npm 3.

edited Nov 27 '18 at 18:54

answered Sep 25 '17 at 22:54

Don Kirkby

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What does `-g` mean in this case? Can you have a repo-specific version of npm? – Jim Aho Jan 16 '18 at 13:33
You can install `npm` in your repo, @JimAho, but you get a warning, and I couldn't figure out how to run the local version. Seems best to avoid this situation, I guess. – Don Kirkby Jan 16 '18 at 18:09
Thanks for posting this! – James Drinkard May 23 '18 at 16:17
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g stands for global – AGrush Apr 16 '19 at 17:28
FYI: Make sure you do this from a cmd that has admin priv. – Seth Eden May 27 '21 at 16:50
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Any idea on how to downgrade npm when a non-compatible Node version is installed? For example, Node is v8 and npm v7. It looks like Node 8 doesn't work fine with npm, so npm complaints about it and it doesn't let you downgrade to the compatible npm v6. – xarlymg89 Sep 24 '21 at 07:40
For some Angular packages, I needed to downgrade npm to `^7.5.6`. `npm install -g npm@7` did the trick. Thanks! – rinogo Oct 22 '21 at 19:49
but npm -v still prints the latest version – yılmaz Mar 22 '22 at 16:22

score 44 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 01 '22 at 14:25

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Just need to add version of which you want

upgrade or downgrade

npm install -g npm@version

Example if you want to downgrade from npm 5.6.0 to 4.6.1 then,

npm install -g npm@4.6.1

It is tested on linux

edited Mar 01 '22 at 14:25

Liam

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answered Jan 03 '18 at 06:42

Parvinder Kumar

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moyo · Answer 3 · 2021-08-12T16:11:08.030

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npm install -g npm@4

This will install the latest version on the major release 4, so no need to specify version number. Replace 4 with whatever major release you want.

edited Aug 12 '21 at 16:11

answered Mar 21 '18 at 10:24

moyo

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Ibrahim BHMBS · Answer 4 · 2021-11-13T18:37:58.530

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To downgrade NPM to a specific version, you can use the following command:

npm install -g npm@[version_number]

Instead of using the @latest tag, you can use the number of the desired version you want,

for example:

npm install -g npm@3.10.10

edited Nov 13 '21 at 18:37

answered Aug 17 '21 at 14:45

Ibrahim BHMBS

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score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 28 '18 at 06:45

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Even I run npm install -g npm@4, it is not ok for me.

Finally, I download and install the old node.js version.

https://nodejs.org/download/release/v7.10.1/

It is npm version 4.

You can choose any version here https://nodejs.org/download/release/

answered Mar 28 '18 at 06:45

Zaw Than oo

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You can find the node.js with a specific version of npm by searching in [Looking for latest release of a version branch?](https://nodejs.org/en/download/releases/#looking-for-latest-release-of-a-version-branch). – li ki Oct 02 '21 at 02:09
This is the correct answer, npm is tied to the node version – Liam Mar 01 '22 at 14:26

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Jul 25 '18 at 06:38

Before doing that Download Node Js 8.11.3 from the URL: download

Open command prompt and run this:

npm install -g npm@3.10.10

use this version this is the stable version which works along with cordova 7.1.0

for installing cordova use : • npm install -g cordova@7.1.0

• Run command

• Cordova platform remove android (if you have old android code or code is having some issue)

• Cordova platform add android : for building android app in cordova Running: Corodva run android

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered May 10 '22 at 09:23

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No need for uninstalling and then reinstalling even, just install npm with the designated version globally

>npm install -g npm@version

For example

>npm install -g npm@6.14.12

answered May 10 '22 at 09:23

Oussama Essamadi

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Downgrade npm to an older version

Updating npm

7 Answers7

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