[Suggestion] Alternative for per-user NPM configuration so that `claude` does not want user to install into `/usr` as superuser.

I'll second this. On Ubuntu 22.04 & npm v10.5.0, I get the following error because it tries to install to /usr/lib/node_modules.

$ npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! syscall mkdir
npm ERR! path /usr/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai
npm ERR! errno -13
npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai'
...

I'd rather not use sudo / install this system-wide. Thanks @emcd for the solution:

mkdir ~/.npm-global
npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'
export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH         # add this to your bashrc!
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

I was also not able to do this.

following the suggestion first:

> sudo chown -R $USER:$(id -gn) /usr/local && sudo chmod -R u+w /usr/local
Password: <i enter my password>
chown: /usr/local: Operation not permitted

then trying the second suggestion:

> npm -g config set prefix /Users/oliclive-griffin/.npm-global
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! syscall mkdir
npm ERR! path /usr/local/etc
npm ERR! errno -13
npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/local/etc'
npm ERR!     at async mkdir (node:internal/fs/promises:859:10)
npm ERR!     at async Config.save (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/config/lib/index.js:771:5)
npm ERR!     at async Config.set (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/commands/config.js:176:5)
npm ERR!     at async Config.exec (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/commands/config.js:118:11)
npm ERR!     at async module.exports (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cli-entry.js:61:5)
npm ERR!  Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/local/etc'
npm ERR!     at async mkdir (node:internal/fs/promises:859:10)
npm ERR!     at async Config.save (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/config/lib/index.js:771:5)
npm ERR!     at async Config.set (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/commands/config.js:176:5)
npm ERR!     at async Config.exec (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/commands/config.js:118:11)
npm ERR!     at async module.exports (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cli-entry.js:61:5) {
npm ERR!   errno: -13,
npm ERR!   code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR!   syscall: 'mkdir',
npm ERR!   path: '/usr/local/etc'
npm ERR! }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user
npm ERR!
npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the
npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running
npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in: /Users/oliclive-griffin/.npm/_logs/2025-02-26T00_53_59_710Z-debug-0.log

> sudo chown -R $USER:$(id -gn) /usr/local && sudo chmod -R u+w /usr/local chown: /usr/local: Operation not permitted then trying the second suggestion:

This ticket is about helping people avoid what you tried above, @oli-clive-griffin . (Though recursively changing the ownership and permissions on /usr/local on a single-user system is less problematic than changing the recursively changing the ownership and permissions of /usr.)

Did you already install with sudo npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code? If so, then you probably want to uninstall it first: sudo npm uninstall -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Then follow the steps which Binit helpfully copied from the Claude conversation:

• Create a NPM packages directory for your user: mkdir ~/.npm-global
• Configure NPM to look at the new directory for global packages: npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'
• Assuming that you are using Bash or Zsh (probably Zsh, since you seem to be on macOS), then ensure that any executables that you install with NPM can be found: export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH
• Attempt installation again: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

> npm -g config set prefix /Users/oliclive-griffin/.npm-global

This step should not be using the -g flag, as far as I know. Can you try without the -g on this step?

If you still have problems, then it could have something to do with how you installed npm on your macOS system. (Providing some details on how you installed npm could aid in troubleshooting.)

I hate to not be helpful but I've now got this working and am under a lot of time pressure so likely won't be able to try this too soon. sorry

Tried installing without the sudo, getting same error. (havent tried with sudo)

npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! syscall symlink
npm ERR! path ../lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js
npm ERR! dest /usr/local/bin/claude
npm ERR! errno -13
npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, symlink '../lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js' -> '/usr/local/bin/claude'
npm ERR!  { [Error: EACCES: permission denied, symlink '../lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js' -> '/usr/local/bin/claude']
npm ERR!   cause:
npm ERR!    { Error: EACCES: permission denied, symlink '../lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js' -> '/usr/local/bin/claude'
npm ERR!      errno: -13,
npm ERR!      code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR!      syscall: 'symlink',
npm ERR!      path: '../lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js',
npm ERR!      dest: '/usr/local/bin/claude' },
npm ERR!   stack:
npm ERR!    'Error: EACCES: permission denied, symlink \'../lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js\' -> \'/usr/local/bin/claude\'',
npm ERR!   errno: -13,
npm ERR!   code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR!   syscall: 'symlink',
npm ERR!   path: '../lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js',
npm ERR!   dest: '/usr/local/bin/claude' }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user
npm ERR!
npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the
npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running
npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator.

Tried installing without the sudo, getting same error. (havent tried with sudo) `` npm ERR! code EACCES npm ERR! syscall symlink npm ERR! path ../lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js npm ERR! dest /usr/local/bin/claude npm ERR! errno -13 npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, symlink '../lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js' -> '/usr/local/bin/claude' ``

Does not look like you have a user-writable NPM prefix, given that the Claude installation path is showing as /usr/local in the output you have provided. I would recommend setting a user-writable NPM prefix, per the instructions linked in the original post or on the Anthropic website. (Or, if you have Asdf, Mise, Nvm, etc..., you can install using a Node.js/npm provided by one of them.)

@emcd your steps worked 100% perfectly and subsequently no issues running claude . Appreciate you and hope I may return the favor some day.

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