How to Fix the npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE Error

In this post, we'll learn how to fix the npm error code ELIFECYCLE in Node.

In some cases, after you try installing dependencies from npm and then try starting your application, you will see this error:

BASH
npm ERR! Darwin 21.0.0
npm ERR! argv "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "run" "server"
npm ERR! node v17.0.0
npm ERR! npm  v8.0.0
npm ERR! file sh
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno ENOENT
npm ERR! syscall spawn
npm ERR! spawn ENOENT
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm
installed.
npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the todo_app
package react,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.

The biggest cause for this issue is that your node_modules folder is not in a valid state, usually corrupted.

Solution

To fix your node_modules folder, you will have to start from scratch.

First, clear your npm cache by running the following command:

BASH
npm cache clean -- force

Once your cache is cleaned, you will have to delete your node_modules folder, including lock files like package-lock.json and yarn.lock:

BASH
rm -rf node_modules
rm -rf package-lock.json
rm -rf yarn.lock

Once you've done that, you can proceed to re-install your npm dependencies by running the following command:

BASH
npm install

If you are using yarn, you can also run the following command:

BASH
yarn install

Now you may start your application like normal:

BASH
npm start

If you are using yarn, you can also run the following command:

BASH
yarn start

Conclusion

In this post, we've taken a look at how to fix the npm error code ELIFECYCLE in Node.

Hopefully, this has helped you resolve the issue for you.

Happy coding!

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