[Bug] npm Install Fails: ENOTEMPTY Error During Global Package Update
Status Fixed / completed
Maintainer reply ✓ Yes — ant-kurt
Activity 8 comments · opened Aug 30, 2025 · closed Sep 2, 2025
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (ant-kurt, collaborator)
responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.
Bug Description
update problem with claude code
npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
npm error code ENOTEMPTY
npm error syscall rename
npm error path /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code
npm error dest /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/.claude-code-2DTsDk1V
npm error errno -66
npm error ENOTEMPTY: directory not empty, rename '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code' -> '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/.claude-code-2DTsDk1V'
Environment Info
- Platform: darwin
- Terminal: iTerm.app
- Version: 1.0.96
- Feedback ID: 94afdf2e-5918-4f92-b2ec-159a64883765
Errors
[{"error":"Error: Failed to install new version of claude: npm error code ENOTEMPTY\nnpm error syscall rename\nnpm error path /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code\nnpm error dest /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/.claude-code-2DTsDk1V\nnpm error errno -66\nnpm error ENOTEMPTY: directory not empty, rename '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code' -> '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/.claude-code-2DTsDk1V'\nnpm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /Users/robert.schwegler/.npm/_logs/2025-08-30T08_04_35_594Z-debug-0.log\n at l31 (file:///opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js:1635:392)\n at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)\n at async file:///opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js:3555:10962","timestamp":"2025-08-30T08:04:35.926Z"},{"error":"Error: Failed to install new version of claude: npm error code ENOTEMPTY\nnpm error syscall rename\nnpm error path /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code\nnpm error dest /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/.claude-code-2DTsDk1V\nnpm error errno -66\nnpm error ENOTEMPTY: directory not empty, rename '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code' -> '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/.claude-code-2DTsDk1V'\nnpm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /Users/robert.schwegler/.npm/_logs/2025-08-30T08_04_39_796Z-debug-0.log\n at l31 (file:///opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js:1635:392)\n at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)\n at async file:///opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js:3555:10962","timestamp":"2025-08-30T08:04:40.142Z"},{"error":"Error: Failed to install new version of claude: npm error code ENOTEMPTY\nnpm error syscall rename\nnpm error path /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code\nnpm error dest /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/.claude-code-2DTsDk1V\nnpm error errno -66\nnpm error ENOTEMPTY: directory not empty, rename '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code' -> '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/.claude-code-2DTsDk1V'\nnpm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /Users/robert.schwegler/.npm/_logs/2025-08-30T08_05_08_241Z-debug-0.log\n at l31 (file:///opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js:1635:392)\n at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)\n at async file:///opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js:3555:10962","timestamp":"2025-08-30T08:05:08.641Z"},{"error":"Error: Failed to install new version of claude: npm error code ENOTEMPTY\nnpm error syscall rename\nnpm error path /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code\nnpm error dest /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/.claude-code-2DTsDk1V\nnpm error errno -66\nnpm error ENOTEMPTY: directory not empty, rename '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code' -> '/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/.claude-code-2DTsDk1V'\nnpm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /Users/robert.schwegler/.npm/_logs/2025-08-30T08_05_11_570Z-debug-0.log\n at l31 (file:///opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js:1635:392)\n at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)\n at async file:///opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js:3555:10962","timestamp":"2025-08-30T08:05:11.886Z"}]
8 Comments
I’ve got the exact same error on Mac OS, didn‘t try the update manually, just noticed the „auto update failed“ in Claude Code and that
claudewas not found after exiting. So I triednpm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-codewhich failed with the same message as mentioned by the op.I have the equivalent issue on Ubuntu. Temporarily running via npx until I get it fixed (
npx -y @anthropic-ai/claude-code@latest).Your npm installation is in a bad state, you'll need to manually delete the package. This will be something like:
rm -rf /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-codeand then you can re-install the latest version.
This will be a non-issue in the native build https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/setup#native-binary-installation-beta
@ant-kurt I experience this consistently with
npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-codeUsing this command because Claude Code gave this message:
Remove and reinstall - but cannot update:
Here's the log from the last run:
2025-09-04T06_45_00_057Z-debug-0.log
Surely this is not right?
We recommend switching to a locally installed npm package via
claude /migrate-installeror switching to the native executable (https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/setup#native-binary-installation-beta).claude 1.0.110 broke my npm installation, now I have to remove it by hand. this was reported before, and also dismissed, but obv still unresolved. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/471#issuecomment-2726301474
same . how to solve
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