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📱 Mobile & Cross-Platform

[Workarounds] Packager unable to resolve module from /Users/node_modules/

Freshabout 7 years ago
Mar 14, 20260 views
Confidence Score77%
77%

Problem

There are various issues scattered around the repo related to this issue. Basically what happens is, for some packages, when you try to require `some-module` in a file, for example, [code block] It is unable to resolve the package and the following error appears, [code block] This error message is a symptom of the packager not being able to find `some-module`. It'll walk up the directory tree until it finds `node_modules/some-module`. It just so happens that `/Users` is the last directory to try, hence the weird `/Users/node_modules` directory in the error message (h/t @philikon). Workarounds Currently, the workarounds seem to be, - Delete the `node_modules` folder - `rm -rf node_modules && npm install` - Reset packager cache - `rm -fr $TMPDIR/react-*` or `node_modules/react-native/packager/packager.sh --reset-cache` - Clear watchman watches - `watchman watch-del-all` - Recreate the project from scratch

Error Output

error message is a symptom of the packager not being able to find `some-module`. It'll walk up the directory tree until it finds `node_modules/some-module`. It just so happens that `/Users` is the last dire

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1 Fix

Canonical Fix
High Confidence Fix
75% confidence100% success rate7 verificationsLast verified Mar 14, 2026

Solution: [Workarounds] Packager unable to resolve module from /Users/node_modules/

Low Risk

I suspect that this is actually an npm bug. It seems that npm is secretly deleting installed packages in my project's `node_modules` directory, when I install an unrelated package. When it blows up with an error, it references `/Users/node_modules/` because (I'm guessing) it's just searching up the directory tree 3-4 levels before giving up. re-running `npm install <module> —save` for each of t

75

Trust Score

7 verifications

100% success
  1. 1

    I suspect that this is actually an npm bug. It seems that npm is secretly delet

    I suspect that this is actually an npm bug. It seems that npm is secretly deleting installed packages in my project's `node_modules` directory, when I install an unrelated package. When it blows up with an error, it references `/Users/node_modules/` because (I'm guessing) it's just searching up the directory tree 3-4 levels before giving up.

  2. 2

    re-running `npm install <module> —save` for each of the missing modules fixes th

    re-running `npm install <module> —save` for each of the missing modules fixes this issue for me.

  3. 3

    edit: My guess is that React Native's complex dependency structure is just expos

    edit: My guess is that React Native's complex dependency structure is just exposing npm's bugs.

  4. 4

    edit 2: Yeah, you pretty much want to blow away your project's `node_modules` di

    edit 2: Yeah, you pretty much want to blow away your project's `node_modules` directory and do a fresh `npm install`. I think the issue is extra common if you depend on modules that React Native also depends on (say, lodash). `npm` just gets into a weird state with all the, ahem, flux :).

Validation

Resolved in facebook/react-native GitHub issue #4968. Community reactions: 44 upvotes.

Verification Summary

Worked: 7
Partial: 2
Last verified Mar 14, 2026

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Environment

Submitted by

AC

Alex Chen

2450 rep

Tags

react-nativemobileiosandroidjavascripthelp-wanted-:octocat:tech:-bundler-📦resolution:-locked