Install node in Dockerfile?

I think this works slightly better.

ENV NODE_VERSION=16.13.0
RUN apt install -y curl
RUN curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash
ENV NVM_DIR=/root/.nvm
RUN . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" && nvm install ${NODE_VERSION}
RUN . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" && nvm use v${NODE_VERSION}
RUN . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" && nvm alias default v${NODE_VERSION}
ENV PATH="/root/.nvm/versions/node/v${NODE_VERSION}/bin/:${PATH}"
RUN node --version
RUN npm --version

Note that nvm is a version manager for node.js, designed to be installed per-user, and invoked per-shell. nvm works on any POSIX-compliant shell (sh, dash, ksh, zsh, bash), in particular on these platforms: unix, macOS, and windows WSL.

Just 2 lines

RUN curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_12.x | bash - 
RUN apt-get install -y nodejs

Running apt-get install node does not install Node.js, because that's not the package you're asking for.

If you run apt-cache info node you can see that what you are installing is a "Amateur Packet Radio Node program (transitional package)"

You should follow the Node.js install instructions to install via package manager.

Or if you like building from git, you can just do that inside Docker:

RUN apt-get install -y git-core curl build-essential openssl libssl-dev \
 && git clone https://github.com/nodejs/node.git \
 && cd node \
 && ./configure \
 && make \
 && sudo make install