Running Node-RED locally

If you are on a Raspberry Pi or any Debian-based operating system, including Ubuntu and Diet-Pi, you can use the Pi install script available here.

If you are on an RPM-based operating system, including RedHat, Fedora and CentOS, you can use the RPM install script available here.

If you are using Windows, detailed instructions for installing Node-RED can be found here.

Prerequisites

To install Node-RED locally you will need a supported version of Node.js.

Installing with npm

To install Node-RED you can use the npm command that comes with node.js:

sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm node-red

If you are using Windows, do not start the command with sudo.

That command will install Node-RED as a global module along with its dependencies.

You can confirm it has succeeded if the end of the command output looks similar to:

+ node-red@1.1.0
added 332 packages from 341 contributors in 18.494s
found 0 vulnerabilities

Installing with docker

To run in Docker in its simplest form just run:

docker run -it -p 1880:1880 --name mynodered nodered/node-red

For more detailed information see our docker guide.

Installing with snap

If your OS supports Snap you can install Node-RED with:

sudo snap install node-red

When installed as a Snap package, it will run in a secure container that does not have access to some extra facilities that may be needed for you to use, such as:

• access to main system storage. Can only read/write to local home directories.
• gcc - needed to compile any binary components of nodes you want to install
• git - needed if you want to use the Projects feature
• direct access to gpio hardware
• access to any external commands your flows want to use with the Exec node (for example).

If you need access to system hardware or to add nodes that require compilation then we recommend using a full install of Node-RED and not using the snap.

Running

Once installed as a global module you can use the node-red command to start Node-RED in your terminal. You can use Ctrl-C or close the terminal window to stop Node-RED.

$ node-red

Welcome to Node-RED
===================

30 Jun 23:43:39 - [info] Node-RED version: v1.3.5
30 Jun 23:43:39 - [info] Node.js  version: v14.7.2
30 Jun 23:43:39 - [info] Darwin 19.6.0 x64 LE
30 Jun 23:43:39 - [info] Loading palette nodes
30 Jun 23:43:44 - [warn] rpi-gpio : Raspberry Pi specific node set inactive
30 Jun 23:43:44 - [info] Settings file  : /Users/nol/.node-red/settings.js
30 Jun 23:43:44 - [info] HTTP Static    : /Users/nol/node-red/web
30 Jun 23:43:44 - [info] Context store  : 'default' [module=localfilesystem]
30 Jun 23:43:44 - [info] User directory : /Users/nol/.node-red
30 Jun 23:43:44 - [warn] Projects disabled : set editorTheme.projects.enabled=true to enable
30 Jun 23:43:44 - [info] Creating new flows file : flows_noltop.json
30 Jun 23:43:44 - [info] Starting flows
30 Jun 23:43:44 - [info] Started flows
30 Jun 23:43:44 - [info] Server now running at http://127.0.0.1:1880/red/

You can then access the Node-RED editor by pointing your browser at http://localhost:1880.

The log output provides you various pieces of information:

• The versions of Node-RED and Node.js
• Any errors hit when it tried to load the palette nodes
• The location of your Settings file and User Directory
• The name of the flows file it is using.

Node-RED uses flows_<hostname>.json as the default flows file. You can change this by providing the flow file name as argument to the node-red command.

Command-line Usage

Node-RED can be started using the command node-red. This command can take various arguments:

node-red [-v] [-?] [--settings settings.js] [--userDir DIR]
         [--port PORT] [--title TITLE] [--safe] [flows.json|projectName]
         [-D X=Y|@file]

Node-RED uses flows_<hostname>.json as the default flows file. If the computer you are running on may change its hostname, then you should ensure you provide a static file name; either as a command-line argument or using the flowsFile option in your settings file.

Override individual settings

Since Node-RED 1.1.0

You can override individual settings on the command-line using the -D (or --define) option.

For example, to change the logging level you can use:

-D logging.console.level=trace

You can also provide the custom settings as a file:

-D @./custom-settings.txt

The file should contain a list of the settings to override:

logging.console.level=trace
logging.console.audit=true

Passing arguments to the underlying Node.js process

There are occasions when it is necessary to pass arguments to the underlying Node.js process. For example, when running on devices like the Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone Black that have a constrained amount of memory.

To do this, you must use the node-red-pi start script in place of node-red. Note: this script is not available on Windows.

Alternatively, if are running Node-RED using the node command, you must provide arguments for the node process before specifying red.js and the arguments you want passed to Node-RED itself.

The following two commands show these two approaches:

node-red-pi --max-old-space-size=128 --userDir /home/user/node-red-data/
node --max-old-space-size=128 red.js --userDir /home/user/node-red-data/

Upgrading Node-RED

If you installed Node-RED using the Pi script, you can rerun it to upgrade. The script is available here.

If you have installed Node-RED as a global npm package, you can upgrade to the latest version with the following command:

sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm node-red

If you are using Windows, do not start the command with sudo.

Next steps

• Learn how to secure your editor
• Create your first flow
• Starting Node-RED on boot