Go to the official Node.js website:
👉 https://nodejs.org
You’ll see two versions:
LTS (Recommended): More stable – choose this one.
Current: Has the latest features but might have bugs.
📥 Click on the LTS version to download the installer.
Open the downloaded file (it will be a .msi
file on Windows or .pkg
on macOS).
Follow the installation steps:
Accept the license.
Leave all default options as they are.
Finish the setup.
Node.js and npm will be installed together.
After installation, open a terminal or command prompt and type:
bash node -v
This shows the installed Node.js version (e.g., v18.17.1
).
Then check npm:
bash npm -v
This shows the npm version (e.g., 9.5.0
).
👉 npx comes with npm (version 5.2.0 and above), so it's already installed. Check with:
bash npx -v
MCP servers and tools are often developed in JavaScript or TypeScript, which run on the Node.js runtime. For instance, the official MCP SDK (@modelcontextprotocol/sdk
) is a TypeScript library that requires Node.js to execute. Akos Komuves+6Scrum Bug+6GitHub+6Medium+2modelcontextprotocol.info+2npm+2
npm is used to manage and install MCP-related packages. Whether you're setting up an MCP server or client, you'll use npm to install dependencies like the MCP Framework or other related tools. apidog
npx allows you to run Node.js packages without installing them globally. For example, you can start an MCP server directly using:
bash npx -y replicate-mcp
This command launches a local HTTP server that adheres to the MCP standard, facilitating integration with AI tools like Claude or Cursor. Akos Komuves+5Replicate+5Medium+5
Installing Node.js, npm, and npx is necessary because:
Node.js provides the runtime environment for MCP tools.
npm manages the installation of MCP packages and dependencies.
npx enables quick execution of MCP tools without global installations.