Fix npm ENOTEMPTY Error Quickly

Fix npm ENOTEMPTY Error Quickly | Generated by AI

Home 2026.01

Question: How to fix the npm error “ENOTEMPTY: directory not empty” when trying to globally install @anthropic-ai/claude-code?

Answer:

This is a very common npm bug / race condition that happens during global package installation or update when npm tries to rename the old folder but the target temporary folder already exists (or has permission issues, or leftover files).

Here are the most reliable ways to fix it, ordered from safest/quickest to more aggressive:

Quick & Recommended Fixes (try in this order)

Force remove the temporary folder npm created

sudo rm -rf /usr/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/.claude-code-*

Then retry:

sudo npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Completely remove the existing package folder first

sudo rm -rf /usr/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai
sudo npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Use –force flag (often works when the folder is partially corrupted)
```
sudo npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code --force
```

Clean npm cache + force install (good when you suspect cache issues too)

sudo npm cache clean --force
sudo npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code --force

If the above still fails (rare)

Manually rename the folder yourself (bypasses npm’s rename logic)

sudo mv /usr/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code \
        /usr/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code-old-$(date +%s)
sudo npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Then later you can delete the -old- folder if everything works.

Use npm@latest (sometimes older npm versions have worse rename handling)

sudo npm install -g npm@latest
sudo npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Most Reliable One-liner Combo (what I usually do)

sudo rm -rf /usr/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai \
           /usr/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/.claude-code-* \
&& sudo npm cache clean --force \
&& sudo npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code --force

After any of these succeed, verify with:

claude-code --version
# or just
claude-code

Note: The package name @anthropic-ai/claude-code does not appear to be an official Anthropic package (as of late 2025 / early 2026). Make sure you’re installing the tool you actually intend to use.

References:

None (common npm error, well documented across Stack Overflow, GitHub issues, and npm bug tracker)

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