Both of the following commands use sudo (root) access to install Node-RED globally (and nodejs if required). You may want to inspect them first to satisfy yourself as to the actions they take.

The command line for installing on a Debian based OS is:

bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/linux-installers/master/deb/update-nodejs-and-nodered)

you should ensure you have the build tools installed if you are going to install extra nodes.

sudo apt install build-essential

There are lots of command line options available - add --help to the end of the command above to see them all.

The command line for installing on a RPM based OS is:

bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/linux-installers/master/rpm/update-nodejs-and-nodered)

Change e.g. set the system user and open the firewall :

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/linux-installers/master/rpm/update-nodejs-and-nodered \
 | bash -s --nodered-user=nodered --open-firewall

Command Line options:

  --help                display this help and exits.
  --nodered-user=<user> specify the user to run as e.g. '--nodered-user=nodered'.
  --confirm-root        install as root without asking confirmation.
  --open_firewall       adding public firewall rule for node-red port 1880.
  --confirm-install     confirm the installation without asking a confirmation.

Or by use of the environment variables e.g. to set service user:

NODERED_USER=nodered bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/linux-installers/master/rpm/update-nodejs-and-nodered)

Environment variables, please note that the program commanf line options takes presedence:

NODERED_USER=nodered
OPEN_FIREWALL=y
CONFIRM_ROOT=y
CONFIRM_INSTALL=y

you should ensure you have the development tools installed if you are going to install extra nodes.

dnf groupinstall "Development Tools"

Note: This script will optionally add a firewall rule that adds port 1880 to the public zone. On a default install this should allow access to Node-RED from outside of the local machine. The default is not to do this.

The pibuild directory contains the scripts and files we use to build the pre-install .deb version of Node-RED for the Raspberry Pi. Most users should never need this as the script above is the recommended way to install and upgrade. See the README in that directory for more information.