npm is like a grocery store, for javascript libraries, but you can find older versions of cereal boxes

npm in the linux context is a package manager for the JavaScript programming language. It is accessed via the the aptly named command “npm”.

npx is another tool/binary that lets you run code built with Node.js that has been published through the npm registry. it

nodemon is a tool that helps develop node.js based applications by automatically restarting the node application when file changes in the directory are detected.

nvm is a version manager for node.js - in case there was a need to manage multiple node.js versions on a single OS, this being especially useful when a local environment’s node.js version differs from what is supplied in a managed(read: cloud) environment.