Built with Zig

znvm— The Zig-powered NVM

Zero-overhead Node Version Manager. The ultimate nvm alternative that solves the nvm-slow problem. < 5ms startup, Unix-first, zero config.

curl -fsSL https://znvm.dev/install.sh | bash

Why znvm?

znvm = Zig + nvm. The name says it all.

Zig-Powered Speed

Built with Zig's zero-cost abstractions and explicit memory control. No runtime overhead, no garbage collection pauses.

Unix Philosophy

Do one thing and do it well. znvm focuses exclusively on macOS and Linux, leveraging native system calls instead of cross-platform compromises.

Zero Dependencies

Single static binary. No runtime, no package manager dependencies, no surprises.

Drop-in Replacement

Works seamlessly with your existing .nvmrc files and shell workflows. Migration is effortless.

Actual benchmark on Apple M4 (16GB RAM, macOS 25.3)

Manager	list	use	.nvmrc	Binary
nvm	708ms	192ms	189ms	N/A
fnm	6ms	4ms	10ms	~8MB
znvm	4ms	3ms	2ms	< 1MB

znvm is significantly faster across all operations while maintaining a minimal binary size