For now npm / bower is launched via node. Basically, this was done due to the fact that on Mac Os launched from desktop node PATH var not available:

env: node: No such file or directory

In order to handle it, it was suggested to launch npm / bower tools via node and have a preference for each tool. However, on thym project more elegant solution was found - execute the given command and returns a handle to the process.
More details can be found here:

• https://github.com/gorkem/thym/blob/use_cli/plugins/org.eclipse.thym.core/src/org/eclipse/thym/core/internal/cordova/CordovaCLI.java#
• https://github.com/gorkem/thym/blob/use_cli/plugins/org.eclipse.thym.core/src/org/eclipse/thym/core/internal/util/ExternalProcessUtility.java

Basically, this approach kills two birds with one stone:
1. No mac os Path issue
2. No need to have preferences for node / npm / bower

Also, it will be quite easy to provide cheatsheets for this tools which will include sets of commands

The plan is:

• reimplement the launch process that will be generic for both jsdt and thym (maybe some other tools in future)
• remove irrelevant code with preferences, detectors etc