npx webpack insists on installing webpack-cli but its already installed

Question

I am attempting to run the command:

npx webpack

It tells me it needs webpack-cli and asks if it should install it, I say 'yes'. Then it gives me:

PS C:\_ljdev\webpack demo> npx webpack
npx: installed 321 in 11.89s
One CLI for webpack must be installed. These are recommended choices, delivered as separate packages:
 - webpack-cli (https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli)
   The original webpack full-featured CLI.
We will use "npm" to install the CLI via "npm install -D".
Do you want to install 'webpack-cli' (yes/no): yes
Installing 'webpack-cli' (running 'npm install -D webpack-cli')...
npm WARN [email protected] requires a peer of [email protected] but none is installed. You must install peer dependencies yourself.

+ [email protected]
updated 1 package and audited 1053 packages in 2.093s
found 0 vulnerabilities

{ Error: Cannot find module 'webpack-cli'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:581:15)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:507:25)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:637:17)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:22:18)
    at runCommand.then (C:\Users\luke.jenner\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_npx\3272\node_modules\webpack\bin\webpack.js:143:5)
    at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:68:7) code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND' }

So I attempt to install it locally, manually via:

PS C:\_ljdev\webpack demo> npm install webpack-cli
npm WARN [email protected] requires a peer of [email protected] but none is installed. You must install peer dependencies yourself.

+ [email protected]
updated 1 package and audited 1053 packages in 8.034s
found 0 vulnerabilities

And I check that it is installed using:

PS C:\_ljdev\webpack demo> npm list
[email protected] C:\_ljdev\webpack demo
`-- [email protected]
  +-- [email protected]
  | +-- [email protected]
(other dependencies omitted for brevity)

So it appears installed.

I try npx webpack again and get the exact same output and question to install webpack-cli again.

Can anyone tell me why it's not finding the webpack-cli local install? Does it have to be installed globally?

Or more curiously: why does it fail when it tries to install it itself?

Answer 1

I have hit this error just recently. Deleting the node_modules folder and reinstalling the dependencies with npm i made the npx webpack ... command work again. Can't really say why...