After installing Ubuntu, users must update the system and install essential tools like Node.js and npm for Claude Code compatibility.

Install Yarn: sudo apt install yarn This command installs Yarn and, if you don’t already have Node.js installed, your package manager will install it for you. Option 2: Install Yarn Classic Using NPM ...

So if you install Node.js you can use npm. However, if you do decide to use the version of npm bundled with Node.js you cannot update it using the npm@latest command.