What causes "NODE_FAIL_INSTALL_SPECIFIED_VERSION" in mastra-ai/mastra?

Install the `n` version manager and ensure it is on PATH

mastra-ai/mastra · error · MastraError

NODE_FAIL_INSTALL_SPECIFIED_VERSION

NODE_FAIL_INSTALL_SPECIFIED_VERSION

Error message

NODE_FAIL_INSTALL_SPECIFIED_VERSION

What it means

installNodeVersion in deployers/cloud runs `n auto` in the bundle directory to provision the matching Node version for cloud deployment. When that subprocess exits non-zero, a MastraError with id NODE_FAIL_INSTALL_SPECIFIED_VERSION (category USER, domain DEPLOYER) is thrown, wrapping the execa error.

Source

Thrown at deployers/cloud/src/utils/deps.ts:79

    // File does not exist
  }

  try {
    fs.accessSync(join(path, '.node-version'));
    nodeVersionExists = true;
  } catch {
    // File does not exist
  }

  if (nvmrcExists || nodeVersionExists) {
    logger.info('Node version file found, installing specified Node.js version...');
    const { success, error } = await runWithExeca({
      cmd: 'n',
      args: ['auto'],
      cwd: path,
    });
    if (!success) {
      throw new MastraError(
        {
          id: 'NODE_FAIL_INSTALL_SPECIFIED_VERSION',
          category: 'USER',
          domain: 'DEPLOYER',
        },
        error,
      );
    }
  }
}

export async function installDeps({ path, pm }: { path: string; pm?: string }) {
  pm = pm ?? detectPm({ path });
  logger.info('Installing dependencies', { pm, path });
  // --force is needed to install peer deps for external packages in the mastra output directory
  // --legacy-peer-deps=false is needed to override other overrides by the repo package manager such as pnpm. Pnpm would set it to true
  const args = ['install', '--legacy-peer-deps=false', '--force'];
  const { success, error } = await runWithExeca({ cmd: pm, args, cwd: path });

View on GitHub (pinned to 75dd419e61)

Solutions

Install the `n` version manager and ensure it is on PATH
Run with permission to write n's prefix (e.g. N_PREFIX with chown, or sudo-cached install)
Verify network access to nodejs.org from the deploy environment
Pre-install the required Node version yourself and retry the deploy

Example fix

// before
$ mastra deploy cloud # fails: n not found
// after
$ npm i -g n && sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/n && sudo chown -R $(whoami) /usr/local/n
$ mastra deploy cloud

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

which n || { echo 'n version manager missing'; exit 1; }
node -e "fs.accessSync(process.env.N_PREFIX || '/usr/local/n', fs.constants.W_OK)" || echo 'n prefix not writable'

Try / catch

try {
  await installNodeVersion({ path, version });
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof MastraError && err.id === 'NODE_FAIL_INSTALL_SPECIFIED_VERSION') {
    console.error('n failed:', err.cause); // check PATH, N_PREFIX perms, network
  } else throw err;
}

Prevention

Pre-install `n` and set a writable N_PREFIX in deploy images
Verify network egress to nodejs.org in CI/deploy environments
Pre-provision the exact Node version to avoid `n auto` at deploy time
Run deploys with a user that owns n's install prefix

When it happens

Trigger: Calling installNodeVersion during a cloud deploy when the `n` node version manager fails to resolve/install the target version.

Common situations: `n` not installed or not on PATH; no write permission to /usr/local (n's default prefix); restricted network blocking nodejs.org downloads; unsupported/typos Node version resolution with 'auto'.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of mastra-ai/mastra@75dd419e61 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/316b90e09d98230c. Report an issue: GitHub.