I get an error saying react-scripts command not found. This is really frustrating because the same project works perfectly on my original computer where I developed it. But every time I clone it to a different machine (tried on both Windows and Mac), I get this same error. The project runs fine on the original system but fails everywhere else after cloning from the repository. What could be causing this issue and how can I fix it?
classic mistake! you forgot to run npm install after cloning. the node_modules folder doesn’t get pushed to GitHub, so react-scripts isn’t there. just cd into your project directory, run npm install, then npm start should work.
This issue arises because the ‘node_modules’ folder is excluded from git using .gitignore. When you clone a repository, you only obtain the source code and package.json, but not the dependencies. ‘react-scripts’ is a dev dependency that you must install locally. To resolve this, simply run ‘npm install’ in your project directory after cloning. Additionally, ensure that your Node.js version is compatible with what the project requires, as version mismatches can lead to similar problems even after installing the necessary dependencies.
I’ve faced this issue as well when transitioning React projects to new machines. The challenge is that ‘react-scripts’ has to be included in your local ‘node_modules’ folder, which isn’t part of the repository when you clone it. To resolve this problem, simply navigate to your project folder and execute ‘npm install’ to ensure all dependencies listed in your package.json are installed. Once that’s done, running ‘npm start’ should work without any trouble.