# To install Node-Red globally or not to

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/to-install-node-red-globally-or-not-to/216>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [17 May 2018 17:33 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/to-install-node-red-globally-or-not-to/216 "2018-05-17T17:33:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tilleul](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/tilleul/32/78_2.png) [@tilleul](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/tilleul)\
**Post date:** [17 May 2018 17:33 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/to-install-node-red-globally-or-not-to/216/1 "2018-05-17T17:33:07Z")

</div>

I’ve never installed NR “globally”. From the start I’ve been using the instructions here  
[https://nodered.org/docs/embedding](https://nodered.org/docs/embedding)

to embed NR in another app (which is in fact strictly node-red). One of the main advantages (in my opinion but maybe I’m missing something ?) is that I can use npm on NR juste like any other NodeJS module and so I can have as many NR versions as I want… and also NR updates are not a problem anymore …

I’m not an expert but it seems to me like a great solution. Are there any drawbacks to my approach ? Are there any disadvantages ? What am I missing if I’m not installing NR globally ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [17 May 2018 21:12 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/to-install-node-red-globally-or-not-to/216/2 "2018-05-17T21:12:14Z")

</div>

In my personal opinion, the only downside is the inability to run Dave’s excellent update script (if you are running on Linux). 😄

In truth, for beginners at least, your approach is slightly more complex to start. You do, of course, have to translate many install instructions and other help information as most will assume a standard installation.

There is one more disadvantage. You need to create your own startup command. The default installation on Linux at least (certainly on a Raspberry Pi) automatically creates a systemd startup script for you. Installed this way, you have to do that for yourself.

For myself, I’ve long run Node-RED as a standard installation (not global) on my “live” system which is on a Pi. NR is installed in a folder under the default Pi user’s home folder and the userDir for Node-RED (normally `~/.node-red` is installed in a folder called `.data` under Node-RED’s folder.

This makes it very easy to back up the whole thing including Node-RED itself and all the data and modules. Something that has saved me a lot of time and heartache on the few occasions where major updates to Node-RED have caused serious issues (generally doesn’t seem to happen any more! Yay Nick & Dave!) .

The other advantages are that you can run multiple instances of Node-RED in parallel if you wish. Also, those instances can be completely different versions of Node-RED. Great if you need some flows using the latest version but have some legacy flows that don’t yet work on the latest. With the introduction of `npx`, you could even run different instances using different versions of Node.JS.

The final advantage is that you are not having to use a global npm install which can introduce security issues onto your server platform. Installing locally is the “Node” way and generally always recommended except when installing a Node.JS module that provides a command line interface that you might want to use as a system command.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nlecaude](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/nlecaude/32/25_2.png) [@nlecaude](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/nlecaude)\
**Post date:** [18 May 2018 14:13 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/to-install-node-red-globally-or-not-to/216/3 "2018-05-18T14:13:32Z")

</div>

I always install Node-RED locally on my side. My workflow looks somewhat like this:

```bash
mkdir myNodeREDProject
cd myNodeREDProject
npm init (to create a package.json file)
npm install --save node-red

```

I then usually add a start script in the package.json file for quick tests:

```json
{
"scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "start": "node node_modules/node-red/red.js -v -u ."
  }

```

For persistence I use pm2 to run the local copy. A typical pm2 process file would look like this:

nodered\_pm2.yaml

```auto
apps:
    - name: myNodeREDapp
      script: ./node_modules/node-red/red.js
      args: ["-v", "-u", "."]

```

That file lives in the myNodeREDProject folder and I would start it like this:

```bash
pm2 start nodered_pm2.yaml

```

I also like to hardcode the name of the flow file in `settings.js` as it makes it more portable and is not dependant on the hostname.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [18 May 2018 20:49 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/to-install-node-red-globally-or-not-to/216/4 "2018-05-18T20:49:56Z")

</div>

Yes, similar to me except that I prefer to use systemd to control running rather than PM2, at least on a Pi. I’ve found that PM2 can be rather a resource hog and I’m running so much on my Pi2 now that it doesn’t have too much headroom.

I do use PM2 on my Windows development PC though since I don’t leave Node-RED running all the time there.