What version of Node.js can I use if I'm stuck on SPFx v.1.1.0 (SP 2016)?

Question

I'm stuck on SharePoint 2016 for the time being, and I know that means I'm stuck using SPFx v.1.1.0.

However, I'm not sure what that means in terms of what version of Node.js to use.

I have some notes from a conference that say to use Node LTS v.8, but my notes are not clear on whether that means it must be exactly v.8, or at a minimum v.8.

I'm asking because I have a non-SharePoint project that is requiring Node LTS v.10, and I'm trying to figure out if I can just upgrade to Node v.10, or if I'll have to install NVM so I can switch between 8 and 10 depending on what I'm working on.

Will SPFx v.1.1.0 work with Node LTS v.10?

Answer 1

I eventually found out that for SPFx v1.1 you cannot use Node v10, you must use Node v8, so I had to install NVM for Windows, and am using Node v8.16.2 while working on the SPFx webpart project.

Answer 2

As far as I can remember spfx 1.1.0 was introduced with support for NodeJS version 6 at the time. This section suggests that 1.1.0 was indeed on version 6. They might have added support for version 8 in a patch version. (Only work on online)

In both cases, you absolutely need to be on the corresponding version or you'll run into issues. NVM is a good option to switch between node installations. You could also use containers or even virtual machines (the later requiring a lot of maintenance).

Newer versions of spfx throw errors when you try to use the wrong node version, but I don't think this was already in place for 1.1.0.