VSCode tasks error: /bin/bash: npm: command not found

Question

I've been using node and npm forever. Right now, however, when do command shift p, Tasks: Run task, npm build, I get this error message:

Executing task: npm install <

/bin/bash: npm: command not found The terminal process terminated with exit code: 127

Terminal will be reused by tasks, press any key to close it.

In the terminal, node and npm work fine. I even tried running /bin/bash; node -v and that works fine.

Answer 1

Since this is the first result on Google, I want to share my solution despite this being a year old. The problem is that VS Code isn't initializing the NPM command, and many others when using VS Code Tasks. The solution to this is to force VS Code to do so.

This is a very simple thing to do. Simply open up settings.json and add this:

{
  "terminal.integrated.shellArgs.linux": [
    "-i"
  ]
}

I know that this thread is a year-old, but it's the first result I found on Google when going on my search, and while AskYous's solution worked for him, it didn't for me.

see comments for changes due to new versions of VSC (1.60.1+?)