How to run install node.js when opening new integrated terminal VSCode Mac?

Question

I want to be able to initialise Node.js every time I open a new integrated terminal window on VSCode for MacOS. Currently, I am using "nvm (node version manager)" to init Node.js each time.

Is there a way the settings.json can be updated to do this automatically whenever I open a new integrated terminal window on VSCode for MacOS?

I tried adding:

"terminal.integrated.shellArgs.osx": [
    "nvm use 10"
]

to settings.json , although this does not work.

Answer 1

I don't think VSCode should run anything on your shell when you first open it since that's exactly the role of .bashrc , .zshrc and other such files.

For my own use case, I add this snippet to my .bashrc (which will run every time I open a new interactive non-login shell)

find-up () {
    path=$(pwd)
    while [[ "$path" != "" && ! -e "$path/$1" ]]; do
        path=${path%/*}
    done
    echo "$path"
}

cdnvm(){
    cd "$@";
    nvm_path=$(find-up .nvmrc | tr -d '[:space:]')

    # If there are no .nvmrc file, use the default nvm version
    if [[ ! $nvm_path = *[^[:space:]]* ]]; then

        declare default_version;
        default_version=$(nvm version default);

        # If there is no default version, set it to `node`
        # This will use the latest version on your machine
        if [[ $default_version == "N/A" ]]; then
            nvm alias default node;
            default_version=$(nvm version default);
        fi

        # If the current version is not the default version, set it to use the default version
        if [[ $(nvm current) != "$default_version" ]]; then
            nvm use default;
        fi

        elif [[ -s $nvm_path/.nvmrc && -r $nvm_path/.nvmrc ]]; then
        declare nvm_version
        nvm_version=$(<"$nvm_path"/.nvmrc)

        declare locally_resolved_nvm_version
        # `nvm ls` will check all locally-available versions
        # If there are multiple matching versions, take the latest one
        # Remove the `->` and `*` characters and spaces
        # `locally_resolved_nvm_version` will be `N/A` if no local versions are found
        locally_resolved_nvm_version=$(nvm ls --no-colors "$nvm_version" | tail -1 | tr -d '\->*' | tr -d '[:space:]')

        # If it is not already installed, install it
        # `nvm install` will implicitly use the newly-installed version
        if [[ "$locally_resolved_nvm_version" == "N/A" ]]; then
            nvm install "$nvm_version";
        elif [[ $(nvm current) != "$locally_resolved_nvm_version" ]]; then
            nvm use "$nvm_version";
        fi
    fi
}
alias cd='cdnvm'
cd .

I actually made a PR to the nvm-sh/nvm repository with this snippet and it's now part of their documentation . I would use the version there.

There's also support for zsh . If you use another shell, you may have to replicate that same logic.