Cannot find module 'webpack' error [Solved]

# Table of Contents

# Cannot find module 'webpack' error

To solve the "Cannot find module 'webpack'" error, make sure to install webpack globally by running the npm i -g webpack command and create a symbolic link from the globally-installed package to node_modules by running the npm link webpack command.

Open your terminal in your project's root directory (where your package.json file is located) and run the following commands:

shell

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# ✅ Install Webpack globally
npm install -g webpack webpack-cli

# ✅ Create a symbolic link from the global package
# to node_modules/ of current folder
npm link webpack

install webpack module globally

Once you run the two commands, the error should be resolved.

If the global installation of webpack fails, you might have to run the command prefixed with sudo.

shell

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# 👇️ If you got a permissions error, run with sudo
sudo npm install -g webpack webpack-cli

npm link webpack

The npm link command creates a symbolic link from the globally installed package to the node_modules/ directory of the current folder.

If the error is not resolved, try installing webpack and webpack-cli locally.

Open your terminal in your project's root directory (where your package.json file is located) and run the following commands:

shell

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npm install --save-dev webpack webpack-cli

This will add webpack to the development dependencies of your project, so you don't have to run the link command.

# Delete node_modules and reinstall dependencies

If the error is not resolved, try to delete your node_modules and package-lock.json (not package.json) files, re-run npm install and restart your IDE.

shell

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# 👇️ delete node_modules and package-lock.json
rm -rf node_modules
rm -f package-lock.json
# 👇️ delete dist or build (the directory where Webpack outputs files)
rm -rf dist

# 👇️ clean npm cache
npm cache clean --force

npm install

If you are on Windows, issue the following commands in CMD.

cmd

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# for Windows
rd /s /q "node_modules"
del package-lock.json

# 👇️ delete dist or build (the directory where Webpack outputs files)
rd /s /q "dist"

# 👇️ clean npm cache
npm cache clean --force

# 👇️ install packages
npm install

Make sure to also delete your dist or build folder if you have one. This is where webpack outputs files.

Make sure to restart your IDE if the error persists. VSCode often glitches and a reboot solves things sometimes.

# Make sure `webpack` is in your devDependencies object

If you still get the error, open your package.json file and make sure it contains the webpack package in the devDependencies object.

package.json

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{
  // ... rest
  "devDependencies": {
    "webpack": "^5.70.0",
    "webpack-cli": "^4.9.2"
    // ... rest
  }
}

You can try to manually add the line and re-run npm install.

shell

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npm install

issue npm install command

Or install the latest version of the packages:

shell

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npm install --save-dev webpack@latest webpack-cli@latest

install webpack and webpack cli

# Cannot find module 'webpack-cli' error

To solve the "Cannot find module 'webpack-cli'" error, make sure to install webpack-cli globally by running the npm i -g webpack-cli command and create a symbolic link from the globally-installed package to node_modules by running the npm link webpack-cli command.

Open your terminal in your project's root directory (where your package.json file is located) and run the following commands:

shell

Copied!
# ✅ Install webpack-cli globally
npm install -g webpack webpack-cli

# ✅ Create a symbolic link from the global package
# to node_modules/ of current folder
npm link webpack
npm link webpack-cli

Once you run the two commands, the error should be resolved.

If the global installation of webpack-cli fails, you might have to run the command prefixed with sudo.

shell

Copied!
# 👇️ If you got permissions error, run with sudo
sudo npm install -g webpack webpack-cli

npm link webpack
npm link webpack-cli

The npm link command creates a symbolic link from the globally installed package to the node_modules/ directory of the current folder.

If the error is not resolved, try installing webpack and webpack-cli locally.

Open your terminal in your project's root directory (where your package.json file is located) and run the following commands:

shell

Copied!
npm install --save-dev webpack webpack-cli

This will add webpack-cli to the development dependencies of your project, so you don't have to run the link command.

If the error is not resolved, try to delete your node_modules and package-lock.json (not package.json) files, re-run npm install and restart your IDE.

shell

Copied!
# 👇️ delete node_modules and package-lock.json
rm -rf node_modules
rm -f package-lock.json
# 👇️ delete dist or build (the directory where Webpack outputs files)
rm -rf dist

# 👇️ clean npm cache
npm cache clean --force

npm install

Make sure to also delete your dist or build folder if you have one. This is where webpack outputs files.

Make sure to restart your IDE if the error persists. VSCode often glitches and a reboot solves things sometimes.

If you still get the error, open your package.json file and make sure it contains the webpack-cli package in the devDependencies object.

package.json

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{
  // ... rest
  "devDependencies": {
    "webpack": "^5.70.0",
    "webpack-cli": "^4.9.2"
    // ... rest
  }
}

You can try to manually add the line and re-run npm install.

shell

Copied!
npm install

# Cannot find module 'webpack/bin/config-yargs' error

To solve the error "Cannot find module 'webpack/bin/config-yargs'", make sure you're running a recent version of webpack and replace the webpack-dev-server command with webpack serve in your package.json file.

Open your package.json file and make sure your webpack command starts with webpack serve, and NOT webpack-dev-server.

package.json

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{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "webpack serve --config webpack.dev.js --progress",
    // ... rest
  },
  // ... rest
}

The Webpack team changed the command from webpack-dev-server to webpack serve starting version 4 of webpack.

If the error is not resolved, try installing webpack, webpack-cli and webpack-dev-server locally.

Open your terminal in your project's root directory (where your package.json file is located) and run the following command:

shell

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npm install --save-dev webpack webpack-cli webpack-dev-server

This will add the webpack-dev-server package to the development dependencies of your project.

If the error is not resolved, try to delete your node_modules and package-lock.json (not package.json) files, re-run npm install and restart your IDE.

shell

Copied!
# 👇️ delete node_modules and package-lock.json
rm -rf node_modules
rm -f package-lock.json
# 👇️ delete dist or build (the directory where webpack outputs files)
rm -rf dist

# 👇️ clean npm cache
npm cache clean --force

npm install

Make sure to also delete your dist or build folder if you have one. This is where webpack outputs files.

Make sure to restart your IDE if the error persists. VSCode often glitches and a reboot solves things sometimes.

If you're still getting the error, open your package.json file and make sure it contains the webpack package in the devDependencies object and is version 5 or more recent.

package.json

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{
  // ... rest
  "devDependencies": {
    "webpack": "^5.70.0",
    "webpack-cli": "^4.9.2",
    "webpack-dev-server": "^4.7.4"
    // ... rest
  }
}

You can try to manually add the packages and re-run npm install.

shell

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npm install

Alternatively, you could install the latest version of the packages by running:

shell

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npm install --save-dev webpack@latest webpack-cli@latest webpack-dev-server@latest

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Cannot find module 'webpack' error [Solved]

# Table of Contents