Error npm throws error without sudo

Question

I just installed node and npm through the package on nodejs.org and whenever I try to search or install something with npm it throws the following error, unless I sudo the command. 

npm ERR! Error: EACCES, open '/Users/niroj/.npm/-/all/.cache.json'

npm ERR!  { [Error: EACCES, open '/Users/niroj/.npm/-/all/.cache.json']
npm ERR!   errno: 3,
npm ERR!   code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR!   path: '/Users/niroj/.npm/-/all/.cache.json' }
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Please try running this command again as root/Administrator.

npm ERR! System Darwin 12.2.0
npm ERR! command "node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "search" "bower"
npm ERR! cwd /Users/niroj
npm ERR! node -v v0.10.4
npm ERR! npm -v 1.2.18
npm ERR! path /Users/niroj/.npm/-/all/.cache.json
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! errno 3
npm ERR! stack Error: EACCES, open '/Users/niroj/.npm/-/all/.cache.json'
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/niroj/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0

How to Fix this error?

Answer 1

Hello @kartik,

This looks like a permissions issue in your home directory. To reclaim ownership of the .npm directory execute:

sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/.npm

whoami is an actual shell command. The backticks around whoami ensure that it gets executed correctly and then placed into the chown command.

you could manually specify your username as well. If your username is "niroj", the command would be 

sudo chown -R $(niroj) ~/.npm

Hope it helps!!
Thank You!!