Adding nodes to the palette

Node-RED comes with a core set of useful nodes, but there are many more available from both the Node-RED project as well as the wider community.

You can search for available nodes in the Node-RED library.

Using the Editor

You can install nodes directly within the editor by selecting the Manage Palette option from the main menu to open the Palette Manager.

The ‘Nodes’ tab lists all of the modules you have installed. It shows which you are using and whether updates are available for any of them.

The ‘Install’ tab lets you search the catalogue of available node modules and install them.

Installing with npm

To install a node module from the command-line, you can use the following command from within your user data directory (by default, $HOME/.node-red):

npm install <npm-package-name>

You will then need to restart Node-RED for it to pick-up the new nodes.

The package.json file

When first started, or a new project created, Node-RED will create an initial package.json file in your user directory, or project directory. This allows you to manage your additional dependencies, and release versions of your project, using standard npm practices. The initial version is 0.0.1 but should be edited according to your project release requirements.

npm will automatically add additional installed modules to the dependencies section of the package.json file in your user directory.

Upgrading nodes

The easiest way to check for node updates is to open the Palette Manager in the editor. You can then apply those updates as needed.

You can also check for updates from the command-line using npm. In your user directory, ~/.node-red run the command:

npm outdated

That will highlight any modules that have updates available. To install the latest version of any module, run the command:

npm install <name-of-module>@latest

Whichever approach you take, you will need to restart Node-RED to load the updates.