Solving the "EACCES: permission denied" Error When Installing TypeScript Globally with npm

Shubham Yadav — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 20:00:50 +0000

Recently, while trying to install TypeScript globally on my system using npm, I ran into a common but frustrating error:

npm install -g typescript

And boom — I got hit with this:

npm ERR! code EACCES npm ERR! syscall mkdir npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules/typescript npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/typescript'

This error means that npm doesn't have permission to create directories in the system's global modules folder (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/). This is a pretty common issue on macOS and Linux systems when trying to install global npm packages without sufficient privileges.

Understanding the Problem
EACCES stands for Error: Access Denied. When you see this error during a global installation, it usually means one of two things:

You're trying to write to a system directory that requires admin privileges.

Your npm configuration is pointing to a directory that you don't have access to.
Solution : Use sudo (Quick Fix)
If you trust the package and you just want it to work right now, run:

sudo npm install -g typescript

DEV Community: Shubham Yadav

Solving the "EACCES: permission denied" Error When Installing TypeScript Globally with npm