🚀 Fixing "bash: ng: command not found" – A Guide for Angular Developers

🔍 Introduction

If you're an Angular developer working on Linux/macOS/WSL, you might encounter:

❌ bash: ng: command not found

This error appears when:

• Angular CLI (ng) is not installed.

• Your shell (bash/zsh) tries loading CLI autocompletion too early.

• Node.js/npm is misconfigured.

📌 In this guide, we’ll cover:

✅ Why this happens

✅ Proper Angular CLI installation

✅ Shell config fixes

✅ Best practices

---

1. 🛠 Why Does This Error Happen?

📌 Case 1: Angular CLI Not Installed

The simplest reason—@angular/cli isn’t installed globally.

🛠 Fix:
npm install -g @angular/cli

✔ Verify:
ng version # Should show Angular CLI version

📌 Case 2: Shell Autocompletion Loading Too Early

Some .bashrc/.zshrc files include:

source <(ng completion script) # ❌ Runs before 'ng' exists!

This causes the error if ng isn’t installed yet.

🛠 Fix:

1. Open your shell config: nano ~/.bashrc # or ~/.zshrc``
2. Remove the line or make it conditional:

`bash
if command -v ng &> /dev/null; then
source <(ng completion script) # ✅ Only runs if 'ng' exists
fi
`

1. Reload: source ~/.bashrc

📌 Case 3: Node.js/npm Issues

If npm fails, ng won’t install.

🔍 Verify Node.js & npm:

`bash
node -v # Should show v16+
npm -v # Should show 8+
`

⚠ No Node.js? Install it via:

• NVM (recommended)
• Official Node.js

---

2. 💡 Best Practices for Angular CLI

✔️ 1. Install Angular CLI Globally

npm install -g @angular/cli

✔️ 2. Use npx for Project-Specific Installs

Avoid global installs with:

npx @angular/cli new my-project

✔️ 3. Safe Autocompletion Setup

`bash

Only enable if Angular CLI exists

if command -v ng &> /dev/null; then
source <(ng completion script)
fi
`

✔️ 4. Fix PATH Issues

If ng is installed but not found:

`bash

Check npm global install path

npm config get prefix

Add to PATH (if missing)

export PATH="$PATH:$(npm config get prefix)/bin"
`

---

3. 🗒 Troubleshooting Checklist

Issue	Solution
❌ ng: command not found	npm install -g @angular/cli
⚠ Shell autocompletion error	Remove source <(ng completion script) or make it conditional
🔧 Node.js missing	Install via NVM
🚫 npm not working	Reinstall Node.js or check PATH
🔒 Permission denied	Fix npm permissions (Guide)

---

🎯 Conclusion

Fixing ng: command not found is simple once you diagnose the cause:

1. Install Angular CLI (npm install -g @angular/cli)
2. Fix shell configs (remove/make autocompletion conditional)
3. Check Node.js/npm

✨ Now you’re ready to code without errors! ✨

---

📚 Further Reading

• Angular CLI Docs 📄
• NVM Guide 🔄
• npm Permission Fixes 🔧

---

🎨 Icons Used:

• 🚀 = Quick Fix
• 🔍 = Diagnosis
• 🛠 = Solution
• ✔️ = Best Practice
• ⚠ = Warning