I’m experiencing a persistent bus error on my Mac whenever I attempt to launch my development server.
Every time I execute either npm start or npm run dev, my terminal crashes with a bus error. Here’s what the error output looks like:
myapp git:(master) ✗ npm start
> [email protected] start
> next dev
ready - server listening on 0.0.0.0:3000, url: http://localhost:3000
[1] 2847 bus error npm start
➜ myapp git:(master) ✗
I’ve already tried the usual troubleshooting steps like deleting node_modules, removing package-lock.json, and clearing the .next cache directory. Unfortunately, none of these solutions worked for me. I’m currently using macOS Monterey on my machine. Has anyone else encountered this issue before?
Had this exact bus error for weeks last year. The fix wasn’t Node versions or memory flags - it was corrupted Xcode command line tools. Run xcode-select --install even if they’re already there. Some npm dependencies were failing silently during native compilation and corrupting memory. Command line tools reinstall fixed everything. Also check your VSCode extensions - ESLint was causing conflicts with my dev server.
Been there with those bus errors. Instead of fighting Node versions and memory flags, I just automated my entire dev setup to skip these headaches.
Built a Latenode workflow that watches my dev processes and handles environment config automatically. Bus error pops up? It spins up a clean containerized dev server and proxies everything back to my local machine.
It also does auto-restarts, memory cleanup, and switches Node environments based on what project I’m working on. No more manual debugging or hunting for the right Node version.
You can build similar workflows to manage your whole dev stack. Check it out at https://latenode.com
I faced a similar bus error a while back, and it turned out to be related to the Node.js version being incompatible with my dependencies. Bus errors often indicate that there’s a memory access issue, which can arise due to mismatched versions. If you’re using nvm, consider switching your Node version. In my case, downgrading to Node 16.14.2 resolved the issue. Additionally, after changing Node versions, make sure to run npm rebuild to ensure any native modules are properly compiled. Also, be wary of your system’s memory usage, as Next.js can be resource-intensive during development.
I’ve hit this a few times - try NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=4096" before your npm command. Bus errors on Mac are usually memory issues and Next.js eats up a lot of RAM. Also check for conflicting global packages with npm ls -g --depth=0.
I’ve seen this exact issue on macOS before. Bus errors usually mean there’s a memory access problem, which happens with certain Node.js builds on Apple Silicon Macs. First thing - check if you’re running Node through Rosetta. If you’ve got an M1 or M2 Mac, install Node natively for ARM64 instead of the x86 version. Run node -p process.arch to check. If it shows x64 on Apple Silicon, that’s likely your problem. Also try bumping up your file descriptor limits with ulimit -n 65536 before running npm commands - Next.js can max these out during development.
This bus error thing drove me crazy until I figured it out. Turned out to be filesystem permissions messing with memory during builds. First, run sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/.npm to fix npm cache ownership. Also check if you’ve got antivirus running - my corporate security was scanning node_modules in real-time and screwing with Next.js file operations. Disabling it during dev fixed the bus errors completely. Pull up Activity Monitor while npm runs to see if other processes are messing with your project files.