npm install permission denied (macOS)

Question

To install a Bootstrap theme I want to run npm install. However I always receive a permission denied error.

I already tried nvm and then switched with

Answer 1

I was having a similar issue, but the accepted answer did not work for me, so I will post my solution in case anyone else comes along needing it.

I was running npm install in a project cloned from GitHub and during the clone, for whatever reason the write permission was not actually set on the project directory. To check if this is your problem, pull up Terminal and enter the following:

cd path/to/project/parent/directory
ls -l

If the directory has user write access, the output will include a w in the first group of permissions:

drwxr-xr-x  15 user  staff  480 Sep 10 12:21 project-name

This assumes that you're trying to access a project in the home directory structure of the current user. To make sure that the current user owns the project directory, follow the instructions in the accepted answer.