sh: react-scripts: command not found after running npm start

Question

I cloned a react application onto my system and ran following commands

npm install -g create-react-app
npm install --save react react-dom

After that i ran

npm start

But it threw the above mentioned error, It is working fine on my other system from which i pushed it on github. But it is not working on any other system after cloning whether windows or mac.

You created your app with create-react-app app and cded into it with cd app before running npm start? — user5520186
– user5520186, Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 11:08
I was accidentally using react-scripts-ts instead of react-scripts. — Janac Meena
– Janac Meena, Commented Jul 29, 2021 at 12:57

DeBraid · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-24 13:55:57Z

711

Check if node_modules directory exists. After a fresh clone, there will very likely be no node_modules (since these are .gitignore'd).

Solution

run npm install (or yarn) to ensure all deps are downloaded.

Alternative Solution

If node_modules exists, remove it with rm -rf node_modules and then run npm install (or yarn).

edited Jun 24, 2021 at 13:55

answered Mar 1, 2017 at 18:50

DeBraid

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8 Comments

Victor Augusto Over a year ago

This solution worked for me. But I also had to remove package-lock.json.

Dan Abramov Over a year ago

I also want to mention this happens if the project is initialized using Yarn but then you attempt to run npm install. This won't work: they're not compatible with each other. Running npm install on top of a Yarn-produced tree will corrupt it. I filed an issue here but for now the solution is (if you use Yarn) to always use yarn add to add a package, and to delete node_modules and re-run yarn if you mess it up.

Arun Ramachandran Over a year ago

yes, it worked. But it seems like a common issue across the users. I would like to know what exactly causing the issue over here.

DeBraid Over a year ago

@ArunRamachandran the package.json file should not be overwritten when adding new deps with npm install newDep. Perhaps your project is using yarn? See stackoverflow.com/a/49575980/2700718

Kritish Bhattarai Over a year ago

It didn't work for me, I even tried deleting package-lock.json file

|

Pip · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-11 21:58:12Z

86

Tried all of the above and nothing worked so I used npm i react-scripts and it worked

answered Jun 11, 2018 at 21:58

Pip

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3 Comments

user1941537 Over a year ago

This has fixed my issue. I had to run: yarn add react-scripts

Gass Over a year ago

didn't work for me

Amine Horseman Jan 21 at 12:08

It worked for me. thanks!

kaushalyap · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-12 13:49:50Z

42

I had similar issue. In my case it helped to have Yarn installed and first execute the command

yarn

and then execute the command

yarn start

That could work for you too if the project that you cloned have the yarn.lock file. Hope it helps!

edited Nov 12, 2018 at 13:49

kaushalyap

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answered Jan 25, 2017 at 13:55

Fabio Nolasco

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2 Comments

DJ2 Over a year ago

Does anyone know WHY using yarn fixes an npm problem?

KeshavDulal Over a year ago

In my case, yarn start was not working as the dedicated port (8081) was reserved by previously running process. I had to kill it kill -9 $(lsof -t -i:8081 -sTCP:LISTEN) and run yarn start

LinusG. · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-15 11:51:14Z

28

In package.json, I changed

"start": "react-scripts start"

to

"start": "NODE_ENV=production node_modules/react-scripts/bin/react-scripts.js start"

I hope this solves the problem for some people. Although the other solutions above seem not to work for me.

edited Oct 15, 2020 at 11:51

LinusG.

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answered Aug 20, 2019 at 12:56

TOLULOPE ADETULA

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3 Comments

develCuy Over a year ago

react-scripts is not found in $PATH, any clue on how to add node scripts there?

TOLULOPE ADETULA Over a year ago

Are you sure You've installed React either globally or to that project?

David Thery Over a year ago

This response solved the issue for me, but right now, every single project need this to be able to start. How to fix this?

LinusG. · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-15 11:58:59Z

25

you should not install react-scripts globally, for me this fixed the problem:

npm install --save react react-dom react-scripts

if this still dont work :

update to latest npm version : npm install -g npm@latest
delete node_modules directory
reinstall all dependencies : npm install

edited Oct 15, 2020 at 11:58

LinusG.

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answered Sep 22, 2017 at 12:49

Chtioui Malek

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2 Comments

Kritish Bhattarai Over a year ago

No luck for me, I even tried deleting package-lock.json

lidkxx Over a year ago

This three step thingie did it for me, nothing else worked!

MouseAndKeyboard · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-11 10:11:00Z

18

I had this problem for ages and I eventually found my solution by sheer chance.
Turns out, you can't have spaces or wacky characters in any folder names.

e.g. ~/projects/tutorial/ReactJS/JavaScript Framework: ReactJS/app-name won't work because JavaScript Framework: ReactJS contains spaces.
In general, it's probably not great practice to be using spaces in folder/file names anyway but I hope this saves someone at least 4 hours of trial and error.

Also, any non-alphanumeric characters should be avoided.

edited Jun 11, 2020 at 10:11

answered Dec 8, 2019 at 12:35

MouseAndKeyboard

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5 Comments

Kritish Bhattarai Over a year ago

wow, I tried everything said above but none worked, I didn't use space but had '&' in parent folder containing react app(not even in app's name).This is tricky thing, such small things can give so much issue

Vanderley Maia Over a year ago

I've had the same problem, because a '&" in my path I lost the last 50 minutes trying to solve the problem :/

keemahs Over a year ago

i had my app nested in a folder project:latest.. i think ':' was the culprit

dorianDevTech Over a year ago

I removed "spaces" and "/" from my path folder's names and it worked !!

Peter Koopman Over a year ago

Aaagh. I had a "/" in one of my folder names. This is apparently a bad idea. Changed that to a "-" and everything worked. Thanks

Dan Andersson · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-11 12:01:25Z

16

https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app

npm install -g create-react-app

create-react-app my-app
cd my-app/
npm start

You install the create-react-app package globally. After that you run it and create a project called my-app. Enter your project folder and then run npm start. If that doesn't work try running npm install and then npm start. If that doesn't work as well, try updating your node version and/or npm.

answered Nov 11, 2016 at 12:01

Dan Andersson

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Comments

dealwap · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-30 14:09:43Z

11

This error occurs when you Install package with npm install instead of yarn install or vice-versa.

answered Mar 30, 2018 at 14:09

dealwap

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Comments

MUdit TiWari · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-11 18:10:28Z

7

using npm i --legacy-peer-deps worked for me.

I do not know specifically which operation out of the following it performed:

Installing the peer dependencies' latest stable version.
Installing the peer dependencies' version which the core dependy you are installing uses.

But I think it performs the latter operation. Feel free to let me know if I'm wrong ^-^

answered Jan 11, 2021 at 18:10

MUdit TiWari

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Comments

Chanchala Gorale · Accepted Answer · 2023-01-17 13:32:01Z

7

Run npm i before you start the react project

answered Jan 17, 2023 at 13:32

Chanchala Gorale

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Comments

arslaanmalik · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-07 05:56:25Z

6

If you are having this issue in a Docker container just make sure that node_modules are not added in the .dockerignore file.

I had the same issue sh1 : react scripts not found. For me this was the solution

answered Oct 7, 2019 at 5:56

arslaanmalik

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Comments

Krupal Patel · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-25 08:24:45Z

5

npm install --save react react-dom react-scripts

Above command worked for me.

answered Mar 25, 2019 at 8:24

Krupal Patel

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Comments

Sed 'serdarsenay' · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-09 01:42:35Z

4

This boggles me time to time when I have a fresh start with create-react-app, please make sure your NODE_ENV variable is set to development not production, as devDependencies in your package.json will not be installed by npm install.

answered Mar 9, 2018 at 1:42

Sed 'serdarsenay'

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Comments

mikeym · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-23 16:30:31Z

3

Just ran into this problem after installing material-ui.

Solved it by simply running npm install again.

answered Oct 23, 2017 at 16:30

mikeym

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kartick shaw · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-01 19:01:17Z

3

Just doing an Yarn install solved the problem for me

answered Jun 1, 2018 at 19:01

kartick shaw

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SamiElk · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-29 23:56:57Z

3

After spending too much time trying all the solutions above, I can say for sure:

If you ran into this issue, check your path. If the path contains any special character or spaces just rename it and make sure that the new path doesn't have any spaces or special character. Then run it again .

edited Jan 29, 2022 at 23:56

SamiElk

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answered Jan 28, 2022 at 21:38

Amer21

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1 Comment

tripleee Over a year ago

This seems rather vague. The PATH is not particularly sensitive to what characters your directory names contain, other than of course if a directory contains a literal : which is the PATH delimiter (but on a Mac, you can't really have colons in file names anyway IIRC). Naturally, you need to make sure that you have not misspelled the directories in your PATH (including but not limited to ensuring that your shell's strartup files don't contain DOS carriage returns, which could happen if you edit them on Windows; see also stackoverflow.com/questions/39527571)

Sachin Kumar · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-17 10:53:37Z

3

delete node_modules

run npm install
after that run npm start

if above does't work

delete node_modules
delete package-lock.json
run npm install
and then npm start

if above solutions does not fixed your problem, try the following this worked for me:

if you want to start on another port or PORT command not found error then do the following steps:
1. open package.json file
2. inside script replace the start command with below "start": "set PORT=3006 && react-scripts start"
3. To change the port of your app, you can also create a new file name .env in the root directory of the project and write in it PORT=3006 (then save the file). Now run your app using npm start.

edited Dec 17, 2022 at 10:53

Sachin Kumar

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answered Jul 4, 2022 at 3:33

Manji

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Comments

cs94njw · Accepted Answer · 2025-06-24 21:20:48Z

3

My package.json has react-scripts with a version of ^0.0.0

So I updated package.json and changed it to ^4.0.3 and ran npm install

All of a sudden a lot more stuff happened.

Note: When I ran an npm audit fix it wanted to set react-scripts back to ^0.0.0 again.

answered Jun 24 at 21:20

cs94njw

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1 Comment

Mina Oct 22 at 12:52

Happened to me as well!

wigg · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-08 01:28:57Z

2

Deleting package-lock.json and node_modules then npm install worked for me.

answered Dec 8, 2017 at 1:28

wigg

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Comments

Eric Aya · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-11 20:33:52Z

2

If none of the other answers work properly (after updating the npm etc). I would strongly recommend you to install the project on your desktop.

create-react-app project_name

edited Feb 11, 2019 at 20:33

Eric Aya

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answered Feb 11, 2019 at 19:15

Ferdin

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krsna · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-11 16:43:10Z

2

The solution that worked for me is below. Try creating React app with this command.

create-react-app react-app --scripts-version 1.1.5

answered Jun 11, 2019 at 16:43

krsna

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Comments

chrisjsherm · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-16 15:24:01Z

2

I ran into this error after renaming the directory with the @/ symbol on macOS to match the name of my NPM package namespace.

When the NPM command looked for installed packages in my local node_modules, it couldn't find it due to the way macOS was rewriting the directory path. After renaming the directory without @/ I was up and running again.

answered Sep 16, 2019 at 15:24

chrisjsherm

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abdoo_salem · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-21 07:04:32Z

2

this worked for me.

if you're using yarn:

delete yarn.lock
run yarn
and then yarn start

if you're using npm:

delete package-lock.json
run npm install
and then npm start

answered Nov 21, 2019 at 7:04

abdoo_salem

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Comments

IanNoz · Accepted Answer · 2020-03-26 19:00:18Z

2

If anyone still have this problem after trying these solutions: check your project path as node has some issues working with spaced dir names. I changed all directories names that had spaces in their names and it worked perfectly.

solution idea taken from: https://npm.community/t/react-scripts-not-found/8574

i am using yarn BTW

answered Mar 26, 2020 at 19:00

IanNoz

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Vanderley Maia · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-16 01:50:58Z

2

You shoundt use neither SPACES neither some Special Caracters in you path, like for example using "&". I my case I was using this path: "D:\P&D\mern" and because of this "&" I lost 50 minutes trying to solve the problem! :/

Living and Learning!

answered Jun 16, 2020 at 1:50

Vanderley Maia

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user8453311 · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-19 20:52:56Z

2

I tried every answer but cleaning my npm cache worked..

steps:

Clean cache =====> npm cache clean force.
reinstall create-react-app =====> npm install create-react-app.
npm install.
npm start !!!

answered Feb 19, 2021 at 20:52

user8453311

1 Comment

Towsif Ahamed Labib Over a year ago

only reinstalling worked for me, didn't need to clean cache

Ana Gabriele Soares · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-09 00:36:14Z

2

If you have tried everything and nothing solved it, try to rename the directories name. react will not start if the folder's name contains uppercase letters.

answered Mar 9, 2021 at 0:36

Ana Gabriele Soares

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Alejandro Barrios · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-17 13:17:02Z

2

This workaround works for me

// in your package.json replace 
"start": "react-scripts start"

// with:
"start": "node_modules/react-scripts/bin/react-scripts.js start"

answered May 17, 2022 at 13:17

Alejandro Barrios

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Musa Kazim · Accepted Answer · 2024-06-15 09:36:29Z

2

I tried removing node_modules and re-installing the dependencies but at the end this command helped me npm i react-scripts

answered Jun 15, 2024 at 9:36

Musa Kazim

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Ben Thielker · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-02 13:34:15Z

1

I just randomly experienced this "react-scripts: command not found" error after issuing a react-scripts build request, which was previously working just fine.

A simple reboot of my system corrected the issue.

answered May 2, 2017 at 13:34

Ben Thielker

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