How do I completely uninstall Node.js, and reinstall from beginning (Mac OS X)?

uninstall Node.js 🔗

There is a /Users/myusername/local folder that contained a include with node and lib with node and node_modules. Deleting these local references.

Run this command in your Terminal.

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/{lib/node{,/.npm,_modules},bin,share/man}/{npm*,node*,man1/node*}

Or use this command.

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/share/man/man1/node* /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d ~/.npm ~/.node-gyp

or do those steps instead.

To completely uninstall node + npm is to do the following:

1. go to /usr/local/lib and delete any node and node_modules
2. go to /usr/local/include and delete any node and node_modules directory
3. if you installed it with brew install node, then run brew uninstall node in your terminal
4. check your Home directory for any local or lib or include folders, and delete any node or node_modules from there such as ~/.npm or ~/.nvm.
5. go to /usr/local/bin and delete any node executable

You may also need to do:

sudo rm -rf /opt/local/bin/node /opt/local/include/node /opt/local/lib/node_modules
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/share/man/man1/node.1 /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d

Additionally, NVM modifies the PATH variable in $HOME/.bashrc or $HOME/.zshrc, which must be reverted manually .

reinstall Node.js 🔗

download nvm and follow the instructions to install node. The latest versions of node come with npm, I believe, but you can also reinstall that as well.