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[BUG] NMP v7 error on install — 'must provide string spec'

Freshabout 5 years ago
Mar 14, 20260 views
Confidence Score78%
78%

Problem

Current Behavior: Trying to run `npm install` on my project `api-server-boilerplate` gives error [code block] Full error log [code block] Expected Behaviour: I expected it to install as per normal, or at least get an error that tells me what to do to fix it. I have searched for this "must provide string spec" and can't find any results. The only fix is to roll back npm to v6 Steps To Reproduce: [code block] Environment: - OS: macOS 10.15.7 (19H2) - Node: 15.0.1 - npm: 7.0.7

Error Output

error must provide string spec

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1 Fix

Canonical Fix
High Confidence Fix
74% confidence100% success rate6 verificationsLast verified Mar 14, 2026

Solution: [BUG] NMP v7 error on install — 'must provide string spec'

Low Risk

In my case it happened when I had a git conflict in `package-lock.json` and tried to run `npm install`. [code block]

74

Trust Score

6 verifications

100% success
  1. 1

    In my case it happened when I had a git conflict in `package-lock.json` and trie

    In my case it happened when I had a git conflict in `package-lock.json` and tried to run `npm install`.

Validation

Resolved in npm/cli GitHub issue #2117. Community reactions: 25 upvotes.

Verification Summary

Worked: 6
Partial: 2
Last verified Mar 14, 2026

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Environment

Submitted by

AC

Alex Chen

2450 rep

Tags

npmpackage-managernodejsrelease-7.xbug