Fix - 'cross-env' is not recognized as an internal or external command

Fix - 'cross-env' is not recognized as an internal or external command #

To solve the error "cross-env is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file", open your terminal in your project's root directory and install the cross-env package by running npm install --save-dev cross-env.

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

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# 👇️ installs cross-env locally
npm install --save-dev cross-env

# 👇️ installs cross-env globally (can run from any directory)
npm install -g cross-env

# ----------------------------------------------

# 👇️ installs cross-env locally
yarn add cross-env --dev

# 👇️ installs cross-env globally (can run from any directory)
yarn add cross-env --global

The command will add the cross-env package to the development dependencies of your project.

You can also create commands in the scripts object of your package.json file.

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{
  "scripts": {
      "build": "cross-env NODE_ENV=production webpack --config build/webpack.config.js"
  }
}

This works because npm will resolve cross-env from your node_modules directory because you ran npm install --save-dev cross-env.

Now you would run the command as npm run build, and not use cross-env directly.

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.

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# 👇️ delete node_modules and package-lock.json
rm -rf node_modules
rm -f package-lock.json

# 👇️ clean npm cache
npm cache clean --force

npm install

Alternatively, you solve the error by prefixing the command with npx.

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# 👇️ prefix with npx
npx cross-env NODE_ENV=production webpack --config build/webpack.config.js

The npx prefix will look for the cross-env package in your local dependencies and if it's not found, it will install the package before running the command.