🚀 nenv — Per-project Portable Node.js Runtime for Windows

nenv is a lightweight tool that allows any Windows project to use Node.js locally without installing Node globally. It downloads a full Node.js runtime directly into your project:

.nenv/node-vX.Y.Z-win-x64/

All Node/npm commands run using this isolated project runtime.

Perfect for:

• Corporate / restricted laptops (no admin rights)
• Zero-install developer setups
• Multiple projects with different Node versions
• CI/CD environments without global installs
• Portable development
• Reproducible project environments

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🌟 Features

• ✔ Zero global Node installation required
• ✔ Node stored inside project (.nenv/)
• ✔ Supports Node versions 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24
• ✔ nenv.cmd node uses the project’s local Node
• ✔ nenv.cmd npm install uses local npm
• ✔ nenv.cmd dev, nenv.cmd build, etc.
• ✔ Downloads official Node.js zips automatically
• ✔ Fully offline after first download
• ✔ No dependencies — just PowerShell + CMD
• ✔ Clean, simple, reproducible

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📦 Installation

🚀 Method 1 — Install via jsDelivr CDN (recommended)

Run this inside your project root folder::

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/tabreezsajjad/nenv@v0.5.0/nenv.txt" -OutFile "nenv.cmd"

Then initialize:

.\nenv.cmd init

This will download Node.js into:

.nenv/node-vX.Y.Z-win-x64/

and generate .nenv-version.

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📄 Method 2 — Manual Download

1. Visit: https://github.com/tabreezsajjad/nenv
2. Download nenv.txt and save it as nenv.cmd
3. Place it in your project
4. Run:

.\nenv.cmd init

🧪 Usage

Check Node version

.\nenv.cmd node --version

Install npm packages

.\nenv.cmd npm install

Run npm scripts

.\nenv.cmd dev
.\nenv.cmd build
.\nenv.cmd start

Equivalent to:

npm run dev
npm run build
npm run start

But always using the project-local Node, never the global system.

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📁 Folder Structure

project/
│ nenv.cmd
│ .nenv-version
└── .nenv/
    ├── cache/
    │   └── node-v18.20.0-win-x64.zip
    └── node-v18.20.0-win-x64/
        ├── node.exe
        ├── npm.cmd
        ├── npx.cmd
        └── all Node core files

Everything is sandboxed to this one project.

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🎯 Why nenv?

Global Node installations cause:

• Version conflicts
• Permission problems
• Breaking updates
• Corporate laptop restrictions
• CI/CD inconsistencies
• Different versions across teammates

nenv fixes all of this by giving each project its own private Node runtime.

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🛠 Roadmap

• nenv.ps1 PowerShell-native version
• nenv status
• nenv switch <version>
• nenv list
• Auto-updating mechanism
• GitHub Pages documentation
• macOS/Linux support (future)
• One-line bootstrap installer

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❤️ Support

If this project helps you, consider supporting:

Or simply ⭐ star the GitHub repo — it means a lot!

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🪪 License

MIT License — free for personal and commercial use.

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👨‍💻 Author

Built with ❤️ by Sajjad Tabreez
GitHub: https://github.com/tabreezsajjad/