Building a Local LLM · 09/30 · Development Environment
Full series and learning sequence · Practice code ZIP
Node.js runs JavaScript outside the browser, and npm manages packages used by the project. OpenClaw, introduced later in the series, also depends on Node. After installation, check the executable path and actual version selected by the terminal.
Prepare Windows PowerShell. If you have previously installed Node, write down the version and execution path.
Node LTS and required versions
Obtain the supported LTS installation files from nodejs.org. As of confirmation on October 18, 2026, the Node 24 series is LTS. The OpenClaw documentation I checked the same day requires Node 24.16 or higher or 26.1 or higher and recommends Node 26. The series begins with the latest patches for Node 24, and also double-checks OpenClaw’s requirements on the actual installation date.
LTS status and minimum required version of the program must be viewed separately. If you apply “Node 18 or higher” as written in the previous lecture, you may be blocked at the execution stage after installation. Select the Windows x64·ARM64 installation file to suit your PC.
Check Node·npm path
node --version
npm.cmd --version
npx.cmd --version
Get-Command node, npm.cmd, npx.cmd
where.exe nodeWindows installation files usually include npm. If npm.ps1 is blocked by the execution policy, you can try running it with npm.cmd. Check this difference before changing system-wide policies. If multiple paths appear in where.exe node, the previous installation will be executed in PATH. If the version remains the same even after installing a new version, check the order.
package.json and API requests
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$env:USERPROFILE\node-llm-lab"
Set-Location "$env:USERPROFILE\node-llm-lab"
npm.cmd init -y
node -e "fetch('http://127.0.0.1:11434/api/version').then(r=>r.json()).then(console.log).catch(e=>{console.error(e);process.exitCode=1})"The above example requests the Ollama version using Node’s built-in fetch. Even if Node is installed, if the Ollama server is turned off, the request will fail. This is a simple example that can be checked in two steps. The project’s settings are written to package.json, and the selected dependency versions are written to package-lock.json.
Project installation/global installation/npx
When you run npm install inside your project, the dependencies will be installed in node_modules. Global installation makes command-line programs easier to find in your environment, and npx finds and runs the package’s executable file. npx can also download and run the necessary code, so check the source before using it.
You can check the public version and requirements before installation with npm.cmd view openclaw version engines. This command itself does not install or run OpenClaw. The actual installation will be done in Part 22. Check which package the official documentation links to to avoid confusion with packages with similar names.
npm.cmd view openclaw version enginesNode installed on Windows and WSL are separate environments. Problems may arise if node_modules containing native modules are shared between two environments. First decide which terminal you want to run the project in.
reference material
Documentation and model tags checked: October 18, 2026. Primary lab environment: Windows 11 x64.
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