CC_NODE_VERSION takes precedence over engines.node from December 1
In May 2025, we added CC_NODE_VERSION support to Node.js applications and recommended it over the engines.node field of package.json. For legacy reasons, engines.node still takes precedence in Node.js applications when you set both. From December 1, 2026, CC_NODE_VERSION will take precedence, and engines.node will only apply when this variable isn’t set.
The npm documentation describes engines.node as the Node.js versions your package works on, an advisory field that npm only checks with warnings, unless you enable engine-strict. A dedicated environment variable makes the version you deploy explicit, and lets you change it without a new commit. It also works in every non-Docker runtime, not only in Node.js applications.
This change only affects Node.js applications that set both, to values that resolve to different versions. To check yours, compare both values from a folder linked to the application, on the revision you deploy:
clever env | grep '^CC_NODE_VERSION='
node -p "require('./package.json').engines?.node"If they differ, set CC_NODE_VERSION to the version you want, or remove it to keep the one engines.node selects today, then redeploy:
clever env rm CC_NODE_VERSION
clever restart --without-cacheApplications that set only one of them, or none, keep the same behavior.