diff --git a/.nvmrc b/.nvmrc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b77208ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.nvmrc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+16.14.0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 851aec5c7..6598f5176 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ VIRTUALENV_ROOT := $(shell [ -z $$VIRTUAL_ENV ] && echo $$(pwd)/venv || echo $$V
 .PHONY: bootstrap
 bootstrap: generate-version-file ## Set up everything to run the app
 	pip3 install -r requirements_for_test.txt
-	npm install
-	. environment.sh; npm run build
+	source $(HOME)/.nvm/nvm.sh && nvm install && npm ci
+	. environment.sh; source $(HOME)/.nvm/nvm.sh && npm run build
 
 .PHONY: watch-frontend
 watch-frontend:  ## Build frontend and watch for changes
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ generate-version-file: ## Generates the app version file
 test: ## Run tests
 	flake8 .
 	isort --check-only ./app ./tests
-	npm test
+	source $(HOME)/.nvm/nvm.sh && npm test
 	py.test -n auto --maxfail=10 tests/
 
 .PHONY: fix-imports
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d7437ca8e..35084481c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,17 +13,21 @@ GOV.UK Notify admin application - https://www.notifications.service.gov.uk/
 
 At the moment we run Python 3.9 in production.
 
-### NPM packages
+### NodeJS & NPM
+
+If you don't have NodeJS on your system, install it with homebrew.
 
 ```shell
 brew install node
 ```
 
-[NPM](npmjs.org) is Node's package management tool. `n` is a tool for managing different versions of Node. The following installs `n` and uses the long term support (LTS) version of Node.
+`nvm` is a tool for managing different versions of NodeJS. Follow [the guidance on nvm's github repository](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm#installing-and-updating) to install it.
+
+Once installed, run the following to switch to the version of NodeJS for this project. If you don't
+have that version, it should tell you how to install it.
 
 ```shell
-npm install -g n
-n lts
+nvm use
 ```
 
 ### `environment.sh`
@@ -75,4 +79,5 @@ To run a specific JavaScript test, you'll need to copy the full command from `pa
 ## Further docs
 
 - [Working with static assets](docs/static-assets.md)
+- [JavaScript documentation](https://github.com/alphagov/notifications-manuals/wiki/JavaScript-Documentation)
 - [Updating dependencies](https://github.com/alphagov/notifications-manuals/wiki/Dependencies)