Howdy👋 I'm Arisa, a DevRel Engineer at Storyblok.

I got a trap while I was installing TypeScript and couldn't find the easy, short and clear solution in English sources.

Here's a quick note if you're also suffering from a headache from the 2 errors below.

Error 1:

npm ERR! code EEXIST
npm ERR! path /Users/username/.npm-global/bin/tsc
npm ERR! EEXIST: file already exists
npm ERR! File exists: /Users/username/.npm-global/bin/tsc
npm ERR! Remove the existing file and try again, or run npm
npm ERR! with --force to overwrite files recklessly.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/username/.npm/_logs/2022-01-10T22_09_15_651Z-debug.log

Or this one.

Error 2:

zsh: command not found: tsc

The environment

Here is the environment I had.

• node: v16.3.1

• npm: 8.1.2

• typescript: 4.5.4

• MacOS Big Sur 11.6

Why did I get these 2 errors?

It's nothing complicated. In fact, I was just trying to install TypeScript for the first time to start using it.

$ npm i typescript -g

That's the first error I got with saying the file already exists.

A solution for the first error

Let's get started one by one💪

Take a look at again what the error logs are telling. We see that the file already exists for some reason at this path: /Users/username/.npm-global/bin/tsc

It says to remove it so let's remove it.

$ rm -rf /Users/username/.npm-global/bin/tsc

Let's see how it works by installing TypeScript again. But things are not that simple.

npm ERR! code EEXIST
npm ERR! path /Users/username/.npm-global/bin/tsserver
npm ERR! EEXIST: file already exists
npm ERR! File exists: /Users/username/.npm-global/bin/tsserver
npm ERR! Remove the existing file and try again, or run npm
npm ERR! with --force to overwrite files recklessly.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/username/.npm/_logs/2022-01-10T22_09_57_095Z-debug.log

Hold on, this time is not throwing an error at tsc. It's tsserver this time.

It says to remove it so why not, let's run the command below.

$ rm -rf /Users/username/.npm-global/bin/tsserver

And of course, let's see by installing TypeScript again.

added 1 package, and audited 2 packages in 1s

found 0 vulnerabilities

It succeeded!✨ Let's check it out.

$ tsc -v

Oh no..! Here comes the 2nd error, command not found.

But good news, it's not that complicated to fix it.

A solution for the second error

Things are quite simple. We just need to make sure 2 things.

1. Fix the PATH

2. Reinstall Node.js if necessary

Let's get going by starting to check the directory where npm uses globally. It returns something similar to this path.

$ npm bin -g
/Users/username/.npm-global/bin

Edit at .zshrc like below. (If you use bash, edit at .bash_profile.)

$ sudo vi ~/.zshrc

Enter as an insert mode by pressing i and add this one line in the end.

export PATH=$PATH:`npm bin -g`

Exit by pressing esc key → :wq → enter key.

Save it by running the command below.

$ source ~/.zshrc

If you don't see any errors or logs, congrats! 🎉 You managed to install TypeScript globally!

However, if you're unlucky or lucky in a way like me, you might see this log.

$ source ~/.zshrc
(not in PATH env variable)

We're almost there...! Jot down a full PATH and run. It should fix the final step.

$ export PATH="/Users/username/.npm-global/bin"
$ souce ~/.zshrc

Let's check out the tsc command for the last time...!

$ tsc -v
Version 4.5.4

You made it! 👏

Summary

To be honest, it's a super long way and I didn't find a short, clear, and easy answer out there. But that's what made me leave a note for myself in the future and for those of you looking for the solutions.

You don't have to feel reluctant to install TypeScript with npm/yarn/Homebrew.

Hope this article finds you well and helps you!

Ciao👋