macOS Installation Requirements

On this page, you’ll learn:

  • How to install Node.

If you’ve never installed Antora before, you’ll need to complete the steps on this page before you can install Antora and use it to generate a documentation site.

Antora is built on Node.js (“Node”). To install Antora, all you need on your machine is a long term support (LTS) release of Node.

Node

You need Node installed on your machine to install and run Antora. Antora follows Node’s release schedule, so we advise that you choose an active long term support (LTS) release of Node. We recommend using the latest active Node LTS version. While you can use other versions of Node, Antora is only tested against LTS releases.

To check whether you have Node installed, and which version, open a terminal and type:

$ node --version

You should see a version string, such as:

v10.16.3

If the command fails with an error, it means you don’t have Node installed. The best way to install Node is to use nvm (Node Version Manager). Skip to Install nvm and Node to find instructions.

If the command returns a version that isn’t an active LTS version, upgrade to the latest Node LTS version using nvm (or your package manager).

If the command returns an active Node LTS version, makes sure that version is the default by typing the following command in your terminal:

$ nvm alias default 10

Now you’re ready to install Antora.

Install nvm and Node

We recommend using the Node Version Manager (nvm) to manage your Node installations, especially if your package manager doesn’t provide Node and npm. Follow these installation instructions to set up nvm on your machine. Then, return here.

Many CI environments use nvm to manage the version of Node used in the build job. By using nvm, you can align your setup with the environment used to generate and publish your production site.

Once you’ve installed nvm, open a new terminal and install the latest Node LTS release.

$ nvm install --lts

The above command will both install the latest LTS release of Node and automatically set it as your default alias.

Now that you have Node set up, you can install Antora.

Upgrade Node using nvm

If you have nvm installed, but you don’t have an LTS release installed, type the following command in your terminal:

$ nvm install --lts

The above command will install the latest version of the latest Node LTS release.

To set the latest version of Node as the default for any new terminal, type:

$ nvm alias default 10

Now that you’re on the latest LTS version of Node, you can install Antora.