Installing Node.js on macOS

The runtime required by all three AI coding tools

💡 Important

Claude Code, CodeX, and Gemini CLI all require Node.js 18+ to run. If you already have Node.js 18 or higher installed, you can skip this section. Verify with: node -v

Option 1: Homebrew package manager (recommended)

# Install Homebrew (if not already installed)
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install Node.js
brew install node

# Verify the installation
node --version
npm --version

Option 2: Official installer

1. Visit the Node.js website: https://nodejs.org
2. Download the LTS .pkg installer
3. Run the installer and follow the prompts to complete the installation

Verify the installation

Open Terminal and run:

node --version
npm --version

If a version number appears (e.g. v18.x.x or higher), the installation was successful.

Troubleshooting

Homebrew is slow

You can use a mainland China mirror:

export HOMEBREW_BREW_GIT_REMOTE="https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/git/homebrew/brew.git"

Permission issues

If you run into permission issues, don't use sudo — fix Homebrew permissions instead:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/bin /usr/local/lib

Next steps

✅ Environment ready!

You're now set to install Claude Code, CodeX, or Gemini CLI.

• Install Claude Code
• Install CodeX
• Install Gemini CLI