npm: ENOENT: no such file or directory

Question

I'm using npm 3.3.6 and when I try to install a bunch of modules I get the error below:

npm i babel-cli babel-plugin-syntax-async-functions babel-plugin-transform-regenerator babel-polyfill babel-preset-es2015 babelify watchify browserify --save-dev

npm ERR! Darwin 15.0.0
npm ERR! argv "/Users/thomas/.nvm/versions/node/v5.0.0/bin/node" "/Users/thomas/.nvm/versions/node/v5.0.0/bin/npm" "i" "babel-cli" "babel-plugin-syntax-async-functions" "babel-plugin-transform-regenerator" "babel-polyfill" "babel-preset-es2015" "babelify" "watchify" "browserify" "--save-dev"
npm ERR! node v5.0.0
npm ERR! npm  v3.3.6
npm ERR! path /Users/thomas/Desktop/esnext-bootstrap/node_modules/babel-cli/node_modules/chokidar/node_modules/fsevents/node_modules/asn1
npm ERR! code ENOENT
npm ERR! errno -2
npm ERR! syscall rename

npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, rename '/Users/thomas/Desktop/esnext-bootstrap/node_modules/babel-cli/node_modules/chokidar/node_modules/fsevents/node_modules/asn1' -> '/Users/thomas/Desktop/esnext-bootstrap/node_modules/asn1'
npm ERR! enoent This is most likely not a problem with npm itself
npm ERR! enoent and is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm ERR! enoent 

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR!     /Users/thomas/Desktop/esnext-bootstrap/npm-debug.log

I have no clue whats going on here or what module specifically is causing the issue. I can see it involves babel-cli, chokidar, and ans1, but when I install babel-cli alone it works without an error.

Just installed every module individually and it worked fine.

Answer 1

I am seeing a similar issue. The issue is caused when the node_modules directory exists and you run npm install. There is some name collision. If you remove the node_modules directory you won't have the issue.