What else do I need to try to resolve this npm start error?

Question

I have tried to resolve this by reading other stack overflow entries before posting, but the same error message keeps showing up.

I am trying to run a Javascript program that integrates ReactJS. It worked for a while and every time I would type "npm start" it would automatically bring up the webpage template in the browser. Now it gives me the following error(s):

jMBP:project javen$ npm start

> react-box@0.1.0 start /Users/javen/Desktop/project
> node scripts/start.js

internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:583
    throw err;
    ^

Error: Cannot find module 'react-dev-utils/prompt'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:581:15)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:507:25)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:637:17)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:20:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/sland/Desktop/project/scripts/start.js:20:14)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:689:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:700:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:599:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:538:12)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:530:3)
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! react-box@0.1.0 start: `node scripts/start.js`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Failed at the react-box@0.1.0 start script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/javen/.npm/_logs/2018-09-27T01_24_06_237Z-debug.log

I have the following installed:

node -v: v10.9.0

npm -v: 6.4.1

I have tried the following:

npm install --save-dev react-dev-utils
npm install -g npm@latest
rm -rf node_modules
npm install //this threw a lot of errors

In the package.json file, for react-dev-utils it says, "react-dev-utils": "^5.0.2" Also, I do not know if this matters, but in the process of trying fixing this, a package-lock.json file has shown up in my project folder. The "prompt" var the error is referring to is the start.js folder: var prompt = require('react-dev-utils/prompt');

I have read that downgrading to an older version of node can sometimes work. If this is the case, which version is best, and how do I do this? Any advice appreciated.

Answer 1

I think npm install --save-dev react-dev-utils commands generally solves the issue. If not then updating your configs to match the latest create-react-app will fix this issue.