Missing Script when I run npm start to create React app

Question

I'm trying to run the React server by running npm start

When I do this I get a missing script error:

λ npm start
npm ERR! missing script: start

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\Aristophanes\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2019-05-15T11_34_47_404Z-debug.log

Full error log:

0 info it worked if it ends with ok
1 verbose cli [ 'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe',
1 verbose cli   'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js',
1 verbose cli   'start' ]
2 info using [email protected]
3 info using [email protected]
4 verbose stack Error: missing script: start
4 verbose stack     at run (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\lib\run-script.js:155:19)
4 verbose stack     at C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\lib\run-script.js:63:5
4 verbose stack     at C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\read-package-json\read-json.js:115:5
4 verbose stack     at C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\read-package-json\read-json.js:418:5
4 verbose stack     at checkBinReferences_ (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\read-package-json\read-json.js:373:45)
4 verbose stack     at final (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\read-package-json\read-json.js:416:3)
4 verbose stack     at then (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\read-package-json\read-json.js:160:5)
4 verbose stack     at ReadFileContext.<anonymous> (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\read-package-json\read-json.js:332:20)
4 verbose stack     at ReadFileContext.callback (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\node_modules\graceful-fs\graceful-fs.js:78:16)
4 verbose stack     at FSReqCallback.readFileAfterOpen [as oncomplete] (fs.js:242:13)
5 verbose cwd C:\Users\Aristophanes\eth-todo-list-react
6 verbose Windows_NT 10.0.17134
7 verbose argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "start"
8 verbose node v11.1.0
9 verbose npm  v6.4.1
10 error missing script: start

Answer 1

global installs of create-react-app are no longer supported.

do it:

npm uninstall -g create-react-app

now do it:

npm install create-react-app

now create your app

npx create-react-app yout-app-name

Answer 2

Installing create-react-app globally is now discouraged. Instead uninstall globally installed create-react-app package by doing: npm uninstall -g create-react-app (may require run as sudo if you get permission related errors or manually delete package folder if this command didn't work for you. Some users have reported they had to delete folders manually)

Then you can run npx create-react-app my-app to create react app again.

npx is available for npm version >= 5.2

ref: https://github.com/facebook/create-react-app/issues/8086

Answer 3

Update create-react-app package to solve this problem.

For updating the concerned package run the following command: npm install -g create-react-app

Answer 4

For windows

tried npm uninstall -g create-react-app that didn't work for me.

I did the following and it worked:

1. Elevated cmd prompt (or Git Bash): where create-react-app it was somewhere in the system files under yarn. follow that path and delete both the files.
2. Go to the working directory where you want the project, in my case a folder inside Documents\Projects. run npx create-react-app my-test-app

This will create a new folder called my-test-app and you can follow the rest of the instructions on the react app website.

cd into that new folder, run

yarn start

Answer 5

This problem has created and still is creating a lot of headaches:

https://github.com/facebook/create-react-app/issues/8308
https://github.com/facebook/create-react-app/issues/8086

Basically the suggestion is correct, may be you have an old version of something around, first try to remove the global create-react-app

npm uninstall -g create-react-app

Then try to update the npm and all the packages.

npm install -g npm@latest

Then you can run to create react app again.

npx create-react-app my-app

This has solved the issue in my case

Answer 6

Check the names of the scripts in the package.json file, they may be called something different to start. e.g. this part:

"scripts": {
  "build": "cd packages/react-scripts && node bin/react-scripts.js build",
  "start": "cd packages/react-scripts && node bin/react-scripts.js start",
},

Also, try printing your working directory using pwd and check to see if the current directory is correct and run npm run start again.

Answer 7

Just in case. From the docs:

If you've previously installed create-react-app globally via npm install -g create-react-app, we recommend you uninstall the package using npm uninstall -g create-react-app to ensure that npx always uses the latest version.

Answer 8

I had this problem and managed to fix it by removing the create-react-app with this the npm uninstall -g create-react-app command. This ensured that the npx would always use the latest create-react-app version.

Answer 9

For me the problem was caused because npx create-react-app my-app was not triggering npm install due to lack of user permission. Please run :

sudo npx create-react-app my-app

Solves the problem.

Answer 10

I found that my problem was extremely simple:

I had opened the parent folder of my React project, instead of the child folder that contains /src and /public.

Once I opened this folder, the script started running fine.

Answer 11

I used to do this all of the time when I first started using

create-react-app

Pretty much anytime I see the console spit out a bunch of garbage, all I need to do is:

cd proj_name
npm start

Answer 12

In my case I uninstalled everything and reinstalled it

npm uninstall -g create-react-app

npm install create-react-app

npx create-react-app yout-app-name

And later install MUI library (in my case :D)

npm install @mui/material @emotion/react @emotion/styled