npm Blocked by PowerShell Execution Policy

Symptom

Running npm run build in the VS Code terminal:

npm : File C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.ps1 cannot be loaded because running scripts
is disabled on this system. For more information, see about_Execution_Policies.
    + CategoryInfo          : SecurityError: (:) [], PSSecurityException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnauthorizedAccess

(The original message was displayed in Korean.)

Cause

The default VS Code terminal is PowerShell. The default PowerShell execution policy on Windows clients (Restricted) blocks .ps1 scripts, and typing npm in PowerShell runs npm.ps1, so it is blocked. The Command Prompt (cmd) opened from GitHub Desktop uses npm.cmd, so it had no problem.

Fix

Option 1. Change the VS Code default terminal to Command Prompt (chosen)

1. Ctrl + Shift + P → Terminal: Select Default Profile → Command Prompt
2. Close the terminal with the trash icon and reopen it with Ctrl + `
3. Confirm the prompt is C:\dev\SecureNomad> rather than PS C:\...

This option leaves the system security policy unchanged.

Option 2. Change the execution policy for the current user

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned

Policy	Meaning
Restricted	Blocks all scripts (Windows client default)
RemoteSigned	Allows local scripts; scripts downloaded from the internet must be signed
Unrestricted / Bypass	No restrictions (not recommended)

-Scope CurrentUser applies only to the current user and does not require administrator rights.

Security note

The execution policy is not a security boundary; it is closer to a safety feature that prevents scripts from running by accident (it is easily bypassed with powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass). Still, the principle is not to loosen settings unnecessarily, so Option 1 was chosen.