Jenkins unable to find npm

Question

On this linux server, I have a user named "myuser". For this user, when echoing the path, I get this:

/home/myuser/bin:/home/myuser/.local/bin:/home/myuser/.nvm/versions/node/v6.11.1/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin

Having a node application, when deploying manually I run:

npm i

And it works.

Now, I installed Jenkins. Jenkins project I'm trying to install is located at:

/var/lib/jenkins/workspace/test

The build is executing a shell script. In that window I entered:

#!/bin/bash
npm i

When building with Jenkins, I get this:

[test] $ /bin/bash /tmp/jenkins756533162549346948.sh
/tmp/jenkins756533162549346948.sh: line 3: npm: command not found
Build step 'Execute shell' marked build as failure
Finished: FAILURE

If I only write:

echo $PATH

in the Jenkins shell, I get this:

[test] $ /bin/sh -xe /tmp/jenkins5067097808572366507.sh
+ echo /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games:/snap/bin
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games:/snap/bin
[test] $ /var/lib/jenkins/tools/jenkins.plugins.nodejs.tools.NodeJSInstallation/6.11.1/bin/node /tmp/jenkins8733250738704177758.js
Finished: SUCCESS

As you can see, I installed nodejs plugin. Anyway, when using Jenkins shell, the npm and even node are not found. How can I make Jenkins to know where npm/node is? I have tried to first write this in the shell:

$PATH=/home/myuser/.nvm/versions/node/v6.11.1/bin

But still no luck.

Answer 1

I have been battling with this for some time now. Finally found the solution. From your jobs menu select Configure under Build Environment select Provide Node & npm bin/ folder to PATH You can leave the default setting and you are good to go.

As specified by Eric Wang in the comments, the NodeJS Plugin needs to be installed first for this option to come up: https://wiki.jenkins.io/display/JENKINS/NodeJS+Plugin

Answer 2

The answers in this thread didn't help me, what helped was adding the node.js tool to my Jenkinsfile:

pipeline {
  agent any

  tools {nodejs "nodejs"}

  stages {
    stage('Example') {
      steps {
        sh 'npm config ls'
      }
    }
  }
}

Where the string "nodejs" is the name you give the node.js tool in the global tool configuration