Getting node.js and grunt to run on Vagrant box (ubuntu-precise12042-x64-vbox43)

Question

I am having trouble understanding how I would get node.js, Grunt and NPM to run on my Vagrant box. I am using the ubuntu-precise12042-x64-vbox43 and provisioning it through puppet. I am just getting started with puppet so I went to https://puphpet.com to generate a manifest. After vagrant up the box provisioned as it should and all is up and running without a problem. I then google around to find https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19000534/install-node-js-on-ubuntu-12-04-lts-using-puppet. I ran vagrant SSH and after that I ran puppet module install willdurand/nodejs which ran fine. Now is the problem that I don´t know what to do next? I thought I would be able to run NPM and Node commands while "in" vagrant SSH. What am i doing wrong? If I run just NPMit says:

the program 'npm' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing: sudo apt-get install npm

Do I have to run some other command?

Answer 1

Just installing the puppet module doesn't install the program, it just tells puppet how to deal with nodejs in puppet. You need to add a declaration to your puppet manifest and run vagrant provision again.

Example:

class { 'nodejs':
  version => 'stable',
}

package { 'express':
  provider => npm
}

Answer 2

In Vagrantfile define your provisioning file:

config.vm.provision "shell", path: "scripts/provision.sh"

Then create package.json for npm with required packages (e.g. grunt) like:

{
  "name": "vagrant",
  "devDependencies": {
    "grunt": "~0.4.5",
    "grunt-cli": "^0.1.13",
    "grunt-exec": "^0.4.6",
    "shelljs": "^0.5.3"
  }
}

Then in provision.sh install npm and dependent packages via:

apt-get install
npm install
grunt --version

and see if that would work during the VM provisioning (vagrant up).

Or use the Puppet manifest as described in the other answer.