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Environment Variables

Complete reference of all environment variables used by nvb.

All variables can also be set in the config file (~/.config/nvb/config). Environment variables always take precedence over config file values.

NVB_MANAGER

Force a specific version manager instead of auto-detection.

  • Values: nvm, fnm, mise, asdf, n
  • Default: auto-detect (first available in order: nvm → fnm → mise → asdf → n)
export NVB_MANAGER="fnm"

NVB_LOG_LEVEL

Controls the verbosity of log output (sent to stderr).

  • Values: error, warn, info, debug
  • Default: error
Level Shows
error Errors that prevent operation
warn Degraded situations (failed parse, missing file)
info Version switches applied
debug Full detail: search paths, cache hits, resolution steps 
export NVB_LOG_LEVEL="debug"

NVB_PRIORITY

Comma-separated list of version files in priority order. The first file found wins.

  • Default: .nvmrc,.node-version,.tool-versions,package.json
export NVB_PRIORITY=".tool-versions,.nvmrc,.node-version,package.json"

NVB_CACHE_DIR

Directory where nvb stores its state cache.

  • Default: $XDG_CACHE_HOME/node-version-bridge (falls back to ~/.cache/node-version-bridge)
export NVB_CACHE_DIR="$HOME/.nvb-cache"

NVB_AUTO_INSTALL

When set to true, nvb will automatically install a missing Node version before switching to it. The install command depends on the detected version manager.

  • Values: true, false
  • Default: false
export NVB_AUTO_INSTALL="true"

Or via config:

nvb config set NVB_AUTO_INSTALL true

NVB_ALIAS_CACHE_TTL

Time-to-live in seconds for the alias resolution cache (nodejs.org API responses).

  • Default: 3600 (1 hour)
export NVB_ALIAS_CACHE_TTL="7200"  # 2 hours