Can't fix these 2 errors when trying to run React Native ios app

Question

I'm having a terrible time with my React Native environment. After doing a pull from the main branch at the little startup I've been working for, I cannot get npx react-native run-ios to work. I've tried all the usual suspects like:

1. reinstall node modules from package.json
2. reinstall pod in /ios
3. reinstall cocoapods 
4. made sure to clear all caches
5. tried different versions of Node
6. reinstalled Node, NVM, Xcode, Cocoapods from the React-Native docs
7. made sure I have a .env file 
8. restarted my computer (you'd be surprised) 

The errors I get are either:

Error: EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read
    at Object.readSync (fs.js:498:3)
    at tryReadSync (fs.js:332:20)
    at Object.readFileSync (fs.js:369:19)
    at UnableToResolveError.buildCodeFrameMessage (/Users/demiansims/Development/ColorTV/colortv-react-native/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/metro/src/node-haste/DependencyGraph/ModuleResolution.js:304:17)
    at new UnableToResolveError (/Users/demiansims/Development/ColorTV/colortv-react-native/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/metro/src/node-haste/DependencyGraph/ModuleResolution.js:290:35)
    at ModuleResolver.resolveDependency (/Users/demiansims/Development/ColorTV/colortv-react-native/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/metro/src/node-haste/DependencyGraph/ModuleResolution.js:168:15)
    at DependencyGraph.resolveDependency (/Users/demiansims/Development/ColorTV/colortv-react-native/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/metro/src/node-haste/DependencyGraph.js:353:43)
    at /Users/demiansims/Development/ColorTV/colortv-react-native/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/metro/src/lib/transformHelpers.js:271:42

Or

Error: Unable to resolve module `./debugger-ui/debuggerWorker.aca173c4` from ``: 

None of these files exist:
  * debugger-ui/debuggerWorker.aca173c4(.native|.native.js|.js|.native.json|.json|.native.ts|.ts|.native.tsx|.tsx|.native.svg|.svg)
  * debugger-ui/debuggerWorker.aca173c4/index(.native|.native.js|.js|.native.json|.json|.native.ts|.ts|.native.tsx|.tsx|.native.svg|.svg)
    at ModuleResolver.resolveDependency (/Users/demiansims/Development/ColorTV/colortv-react-native-2/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/metro/src/node-haste/DependencyGraph/ModuleResolution.js:163:15)
    at ResolutionRequest.resolveDependency (/Users/demiansims/Development/ColorTV/colortv-react-native-2/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/metro/src/node-haste/DependencyGraph/ResolutionRequest.js:52:18)
    at DependencyGraph.resolveDependency (/Users/demiansims/Development/ColorTV/colortv-react-native-2/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/metro/src/node-haste/DependencyGraph.js:287:16)
    at /Users/demiansims/Development/ColorTV/colortv-react-native-2/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/metro/src/lib/transformHelpers.js:267:42
    at /Users/demiansims/Development/ColorTV/colortv-react-native-2/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/metro/src/Server.js:1096:37
    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
    at asyncGeneratorStep (/Users/demiansims/Development/ColorTV/colortv-react-native-2/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/metro/src/Server.js:99:24)
    at _next (/Users/demiansims/Development/ColorTV/colortv-react-native-2/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/metro/src/Server.js:119:9)
    at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:68:7)

Researching any of the errors of above have led me to the steps I took above but nothing seems to work.

I'm not using Expo for development. I'm using React-Native CLI.

Answer 1

Update your node installation to latest LTS version (14.16.0 now), and it should fix this issue.

I recommend using nvm to manage your node versions. This can also help you switch versions quickly if needed.

To install the latest LTS version using nvm you can just run nvm install --lts

Answer 2

Ok. so i ran into this same problem.

Assert that you still have index.js in your root directory. I know it sounds silly, but someone here deleted the index.js and I did not notice and I got the exact same error. after re-creating the index.js. The error was gone.

BTW just in case this is my index.js

import whyDidYouRender from "@welldone-software/why-did-you-render";
import { registerRootComponent } from "expo";
import "react-native-gesture-handler";
import React from "react";
import { enableScreens } from "react-native-screens";

import { App } from "./src/App";
import { setup } from "./src/config";

if (process.env.NODE_ENV === "development") {
  whyDidYouRender(React, {
    trackAllPureComponents: false,
  });
}

enableScreens();
setup();

// registerRootComponent calls AppRegistry.registerComponent('main', () => App);
// It also ensures that whether you load the app in the Expo client or in a native build,
// the environment is set up appropriately
registerRootComponent(App);