Webpack - webpack-dev-server: command not found

Question

I am working on a React webapp using webpack, loosely alongside this tutorial.

Accidentally, I added the node_modules folder to my git. I then removed it again using git rm -f node_modules/*.

Now, when I try starting the webpack server, I get the following error:

> webpack-dev-server -d --config webpack.dev.config.js --content-base public/ --progress --colors

sh: webpack-dev-server: command not found

npm ERR! Darwin 14.4.0
npm ERR! argv "node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "run" "devserve"
npm ERR! node v0.12.4
npm ERR! npm  v2.10.1
npm ERR! file sh
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno ENOENT
npm ERR! syscall spawn
npm ERR! [email protected] devserve: `webpack-dev-server -d --config webpack.dev.config.js --content-base public/ --progress --colors`
npm ERR! spawn ENOENT

At first I thought it was only my project, but then I checked out the code checkpoints of the tutorial: same error! So something seems to be messed up globally.

Here's what I tried so far:

• rm node_modules and reinstall with npm install
• npm cache clean as someone mentioned regarding this issue on github
• install webpack globally with npm install -g webpack
• completely delete node and npm from my system (using this guide) and reinstall using brew

The error message still persists. What else can I try?

PS: The content of webpack.dev.config.js is:

var config = require('./webpack.config.js');
var webpack = require('webpack');

config.plugins.push(
  new webpack.DefinePlugin({
    "process.env": {
      "NODE_ENV": JSON.stringify("development")
    }
  })
);

module.exports = config;

Answer 1

Okay, it was easy:

npm install webpack-dev-server -g

What confused me that I did not need that at first, probably things changed with a new version.

Answer 2

FYI, to access any script via command-line like you were trying, you need to have the script registered as a shell-script (or any kind of script like .js, .rb) in the system like these files in the the dir /usr/bin in UNIX. And, system must know where to find them. i.e. the location must be loaded in $PATH array.

---

In your case, the script webpack-dev-server is already installed somewhere inside ./node_modules directory, but system does not know how to access it. So, to access the command webpack-dev-server, you need to install the script in global scope as well.

$ npm install webpack-dev-server -g

Here, -g refers to global scope.

---

However, this is not recommended way because you might face version conflicting issues; so, instead you can set a command in npm's package.json file like:

  "scripts": {
    "start": "webpack-dev-server -d --config webpack.dev.config.js --content-base public/ --progress --colors"
   }

This setting will let you access the script you want with simple command

$ npm start

or

$ yarn start

So short to memorize and play. And, npm knows the location of the module webpack-dev-server.