Mise + Node.js Cookbook

Here are some tips on managing Node.js projects with mise.

Getting started with Node.js

To install Node.js, in a directory, you can use the following command:

mise use node

This will install the latest version of Node.js and create a mise.toml file with the following content:

node = "latest"

If you want to install Node.js globally instead (for example, node v26), you can use the following command:

mise use -g node@26

Add node modules binaries to the PATH

When installing Node.js packages specified in package.json, you typically need to use npx or the full path to the binary. For example:

npm install --save eslint
eslint --version # doesn't work
npx eslint --version # works

Thanks to mise, you can add the node modules binaries to the PATH. This will make CLIs installed with npm available without npx.

mise.toml

[env]
_.path = ['{{config_root}}/node_modules/.bin']

Example:

npm install --save eslint
eslint --version # works

Example Node.js Project

mise.toml

min_version = "2024.9.5"

[env]
_.path = ['{{config_root}}/node_modules/.bin']

# Use the project name derived from the current directory
PROJECT_NAME = "{{ config_root | basename }}"

# Set up the path for node module binaries
BIN_PATH = "{{ config_root }}/node_modules/.bin"

NODE_ENV = "{{ env.NODE_ENV | default(value='development') }}"

[tools]
# Install Node.js using the specified version
node = "{{ env['NODE_VERSION'] | default(value='lts') }}"

# Install some npm packages globally if needed
"npm:typescript" = "latest"
"npm:eslint" = "latest"
"npm:jest" = "latest"

[tasks.install]
alias = "i"
description = "Install npm dependencies"
run = "npm install"

[tasks.start]
alias = "s"
description = "Start the development server"
run = "npm run start"

[tasks.lint]
alias = "l"
description = "Run ESLint"
run = "eslint src/"

[tasks.test]
description = "Run tests"
alias = "t"
run = "jest"

[tasks.build]
description = "Build the project"
alias = "b"
run = "npm run build"

[tasks.info]
description = "Print project information"
run = '''
echo "Project: $PROJECT_NAME"
echo "NODE_ENV: $NODE_ENV"
'''

Example with pnpm

This example uses pnpm as the package manager. It expects devEngines.packageManager in package.json to pin the pnpm version:

package.json

{
  "devEngines": {
    "packageManager": {
      "name": "pnpm",
      "version": "10.15.0"
    }
  }
}

The install task is skipped when package.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, and mise.toml have not changed and node_modules/.pnpm/lock.yaml exists and is up to date.

mise.toml

[tools]
node = '24'

[settings]
# Read the pnpm version from package.json
idiomatic_version_file_enable_tools = ['pnpm']

[env]
_.path = ['{{config_root}}/node_modules/.bin']

[tasks.pnpm-install]
description = 'Installs dependencies with pnpm'
run = 'pnpm install'
sources = ['package.json', 'pnpm-lock.yaml', 'mise.toml']
outputs = ['node_modules/.pnpm/lock.yaml']

[tasks.dev]
description = 'Calls your dev script in `package.json`'
run = 'node --run dev'
depends = ['pnpm-install']

With this setup, getting started in a Node.js project is as simple as running mise dev:

• mise will install the correct version of Node.js
• mise will install the pnpm version declared in package.json
• pnpm install will be run before node --run dev

Replacing Corepack

mise can install and select npm, pnpm, and Yarn without Corepack. The simplest setup is to declare both Node.js and the package manager in mise.toml:

mise.toml

[tools]
node = '24'
pnpm = '10.15.0'

To keep package.json as the package-manager version source, enable its idiomatic version file support:

package.json

{
  "packageManager": "[email protected]+sha224.88208eb7c2e7de6ed534fa298248dee656723116995eda4b508fd0c9"
}

mise.toml

[tools]
node = '24'

[settings]
idiomatic_version_file_enable_tools = ['pnpm']

Run mise install to install the declared versions. With shell activation, mise's shims can also install a missing configured package manager when it is first invoked. This uses not_found_auto_install, which is enabled by default.

Corepack-style +sha1, +sha224, +sha256, +sha384, and +sha512 suffixes are verified against the exact package-manager artifact before installation. For npm, pnpm, and Yarn Classic this is the registry tarball; for modern Yarn it is Yarn's published CLI file. Without a checksum, mise uses the package manager's preferred registry backend (usually Aqua) and that backend's normal verification.

Enable each package manager that a repository may declare:

mise.toml

[settings]
idiomatic_version_file_enable_tools = ['npm', 'pnpm', 'yarn']

Unlike Corepack, mise does not supply a built-in "known good" package-manager version when a project declares none. Configure the version in mise.toml, package.json, or your global mise config instead.