How do I run a node.js app that I installed with npm?

Question

So I installed Node.js on my Windows machine, opened up command prompt and typed

npm ethercalc

Lots of lines flew by and it seems ethercalc and its dependencies have been downloaded and installed. Now, how do I run ethercalc?

node ethercalc

returns a message saying it can't find file "ethercalc" in the current directory.

Note: I'm completely new to node.js. I was very surprised that the official website does not contain basic "Getting Started" info.

As far as "getting started" info, take a quick look at the npm install docs and there's plenty of reading about node in general here. — josh3736, Commented Jul 11, 2013 at 19:13

go-oleg · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-11 21:17:09Z

3

Since ethercalc is an executable, you should install it globally using :

npm install -g ethercalc

and then you can run it using:

ethercalc

Note, you will probably need to use sudo for the install if you are on linux.

Alternatively, their website also mentions installing locally and running the executable from the node_modules folder:

npm install ethercalc
./node_modules/ethercalc/bin/ethercalc

answered Jul 11, 2013 at 19:05

go-oleg

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install -g is the way to go, but sudo is obviously not applicable on Windows. (Windows npm installs 'globally' into the user profile folder, so no elevated permissions are necessary.)
– josh3736
Commented Jul 11, 2013 at 19:07
@josh3736 Thanks for the tip. Updated.
– go-oleg
Commented Jul 11, 2013 at 19:10

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