Global installed nodes ar not available in palette

[gugani]

Hi, I have installed Node Red in a Beaglebone Black with debian Buster via apt:
apt install nodejs npm bb-node-red-installer
Everything is working as expected. The problem comes when I add some nodes via global npm install, I restart Node Red but the nodes are not available in the palette.
If I look for modules installed I find that Node Red preinstalled nodes are in /opt/node-red/lib/node_modules and global installed module are in /usr/local/lib/node_modules
I have installed nodes via global npm install in other systems with no problem. Any advice on how to install the nodes via npm install?

[knolleary]

You don't need to globally install them.

Either install them using the Palette Manager in the editor, or run the npm install command in ~/.node-red.

[gugani]

Thanks for your fast response. I had already tested the Palette Manager install and it was working ok.
To put all in context, I am trying to deploy Node Red with Ansible, I first apt install bb-node-red-installer and then the nodes with npm global install. All was working fine, but I updated to buster 10.2, I was previously using 10.1 image (rcn-ee.com images), and I have found that the systemd service start script changed in the image update, and perhaps that is the problem.
Before:

[Service]
Type=simple
# Run as normal pi user - change to the user name you wish to run Node-RED as
User=debian
Group=debian
WorkingDirectory=/home/debian

Environment="NODE_PATH=/usr/local/lib/node_modules"
Environment="NODE_OPTIONS=--max_old_space_size=256"

ExecStart=/usr/bin/env /usr/bin/nodejs $NODE_OPTIONS /usr/local/bin/node-red $NODE_RED_OPTIONS

After image update:

[Service]
Type=simple
# Run as normal pi user - change to the user name you wish to run Node-RED as
User=node-red
Group=node-red
WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/node-red

Environment="NODE_PATH=/opt/node-red/lib/node_modules"
Environment="NODE_OPTIONS=--max_old_space_size=256"
Environment="HOME=/var/lib/node-red"

WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/node-red
ExecStart=/usr/bin/env /opt/node-red/bin/node $NODE_OPTIONS /opt/node-red/lib/node_modules/node-red/red.js $NODE_RED_OPTIONS

I will continue looking for a solution.

[TotallyInformation]

Well, given that you are not using a Pi, I should think that might be a clue. The service file is set up to work on a Pi without changes but if you run on a different platform, as it says, you need to adjust the configuration.

[gugani]

I realized that the package bb-node-red-installer installs Node Red and its dependencies under /opt/node-red, with its own NODE_PATH. If you want to install a node from terminal you have to do it in the systemd service configured User Directory for Node Red (/var/lib/node-red/.node-red), not globally. As @knolleary pointed in the first answer.
Another important thing is that there is a node-red user executing Node Red, but this user has no permissions over beaglebone io, i2c.... Doing sudo usermod -a -G dialout,i2c,iio,spi,pwm,gpio node-red solves the problem.