can't run npm install -g expo-cli

Question

I'm trying to run npm install - g expo-cli on a MacBook Pro but it doesn't work. I keep getting this error message.

Please help!

Last login: Tue Dec 10 10:58:18 on ttys000
masterminds-MacBook-Pro:~ mastermind$ npm install -g expo-cli
npm WARN deprecated joi@14.0.4: This version has been deprecated in accordance with the hapi support policy (hapi.im/support). Please upgrade to the latest version to get the best features, bug fixes, and security patches. If you are unable to upgrade at this time, paid support is available for older versions (hapi.im/commercial).
npm WARN deprecated fsevents@1.2.9: One of your dependencies needs to upgrade to fsevents v2: 1) Proper nodejs v10+ support 2) No more fetching binaries from AWS, smaller package size
npm WARN deprecated core-js@2.6.11: core-js@<3 is no longer maintained and not recommended for usage due to the number of issues. Please, upgrade your dependencies to the actual version of core-js@3.
npm WARN deprecated joi@11.4.0: This version has been deprecated in accordance with the hapi support policy (hapi.im/support). Please upgrade to the latest version to get the best features, bug fixes, and security patches. If you are unable to upgrade at this time, paid support is available for older versions (hapi.im/commercial).
npm WARN deprecated hoek@4.2.1: This version has been deprecated in accordance with the hapi support policy (hapi.im/support). Please upgrade to the latest version to get the best features, bug fixes, and security patches. If you are unable to upgrade at this time, paid support is available for older versions (hapi.im/commercial).
npm WARN deprecated topo@2.0.2: This version has been deprecated in accordance with the hapi support policy (hapi.im/support). Please upgrade to the latest version to get the best features, bug fixes, and security patches. If you are unable to upgrade at this time, paid support is available for older versions (hapi.im/commercial).
npm WARN deprecated hoek@6.1.3: This module has moved and is now available at @hapi/hoek. Please update your dependencies as this version is no longer maintained an may contain bugs and security issues.
npm WARN deprecated topo@3.0.3: This module has moved and is now available at @hapi/topo. Please update your dependencies as this version is no longer maintained an may contain bugs and security issues.
npm WARN checkPermissions Missing write access to /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! code EACCES
npm ERR! syscall access
npm ERR! path /usr/local/lib/node_modules
npm ERR! errno -13
npm ERR! Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR!  [Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'] {
npm ERR!   stack: "Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'",
npm ERR!   errno: -13,
npm ERR!   code: 'EACCES',
npm ERR!   syscall: 'access',
npm ERR!   path: '/usr/local/lib/node_modules'
npm ERR! }
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! The operation was rejected by your operating system.
npm ERR! It is likely you do not have the permissions to access this file as the current user
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! If you believe this might be a permissions issue, please double-check the
npm ERR! permissions of the file and its containing directories, or try running
npm ERR! the command again as root/Administrator.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/mastermind/.npm/_logs/2019-12-10T11_02_25_659Z-debug.log
-MacBook-Pro:~ 

Answer 1

This seems to be a problem with the permissions of your /usr/local/lib/node_modules

So you can try this command: sudo npm install --unsafe-perm -g expo-cli

Or

Follow the steps to fix it: https://docs.npmjs.com/resolving-eacces-permissions-errors-when-installing-packages-globally

Answer 2

You have a permission problem with your global node modules in /usr/local/lib/node_modules

It's likely that you've previously done something like sudo npm install -g ... , which has installed packages as root and these packages can now only be updates or deleted by root . You could continue running sudo to install global packages, but it's a bad idea to for security reasons.

There's a quick fix for this on OSX. You just need to run the following commands:

sudo chown -R `whoami` /usr/local/lib/node_modules
sudo chown -R `whoami` ~/.npm