How to Install Node.js on Debian 10

Installing Node.js from the debian repositories

Run the following command list the modules that provide the nodejs package

apt update
apt install nodejs npm

Output:

root@vps:~# apt install nodejs npm
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
binutils binutils-common binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu build-essential cpp cpp-8

Check the version Once the installation is complete

nodejs --version

Output:

root@vps:~# nodejs --version
v10.15.2

Installing Development Tools

It's necessary for compiling and installing native add-ons from the npm registry

apt install build-essential

Output:

root@vps:~# apt install build-essential
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
build-essential is already the newest version (12.6).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 49 not upgraded.

Uninstalling Node.js

If you wish to uninstall Nodejs and npm packages, you can run the command

apt remove nodejs npm       

Output:

root@vps:~# apt remove nodejs
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
gyp javascript-common libc-ares2 libjs-inherits libjs-is-typedarray libnode-dev libnode64 libssl-dev libuv1 libuv1-dev nodejs-doc python-pkg-resources
Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:

To verify that nodejs is uninstalled you can run the following command

nodejs --version

Output:

[root@vps ~]# nodejs --version
-bash: /usr/bin/nodejs: No such file or directory
[root@vps ~]#