[Feature] Can NVS detect package.json's engines.node property ?

[Sharlaan]

Along its current behavior detecting .nvmrc or .node-version, it would be nice if nvs could detect as well the engines.node property found in package.json

I met this usecase quite often among my clients whree they don't use nvmrc or node-version and don't allow me to add these files, but define an explicit engines.node version.
As a result i can't use nvs on a regular basis since i have to type systematically nvs use <node version required by the project> each time i use a new shell .... every day.
And yes i have tried nvs alias and link, but they don't persist per directory, and i feel a detection mode (like for nvmrc node-version files) sound more appropriate (and direct)

[ljharb]

engines.node is a version range, and thus is categorically not a good fit for selecting a single version of node (altho it's great for validating one) - for this reason, I think every node version manager has thus far chosen not to pay attention to that field.

[jasongin]

Yes, as @ljharb pointed out, engines.node declares the range of node versions that the package is known to be compatible with at runtime. Typically it is a wide range of versions, often encompassing EOL'd / insecure versions, and often unrestricted at the high end, e.g. "node": ">=8.0.0". It's generally not a good source of guidance for auto-selecting a specific version to use. Another consideration is the dev dependencies may have more specific runtime node version requirements. For these reasons, a .node-version or similar file is more appropriate for this purpose.

[OJFord]

Ours is locked to major version, which makes sense to me for a closed-source binary/frontend where the only node users are also in control of the package.json.

I realise it's not really the purpose of nvs, but it'd be convenient to be able to use it as a shortcut to install the right version, the latest available that satisfies engines.node. (Plus for those that are using it anyway, needing another node version for some other reason.)