TFS build agent cannot locate npm

Question

On a locally hosted TFS I'm using the "npm install" build step in my build definition.

On the agent machine I have installed nodejs and can run npm from the command line.

When I attempt to queue the build I get a pop up with the message:

No agent could be found with the following capabilities: npm, DotNetFramework

So I attempted to add the capability, first by refreshing the agent capabilities and when that had no effect I added a capability:

npm C:\Program Files\nodejs

Then the build starts but the npm step throws the error:

Unable to locate npm

I suspect I have missed something on my agent set up because the agent is not reporting its npm capability?

Answer 1

I had to restart the VSO agent service, allowing the new capability to be reported.