webpack: command not found error [Solved]

# Table of Contents

# webpack: command not found error

Use npx to solve the error "webpack: command not found", e.g. npx webpack or install the package locally by running npm install --save-dev webpack webpack-cli to be able to use the command in the scripts section of your package.json file.

command not found webpack

The fastest way to solve the error is to use the npx command.

shell

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npx webpack

npx webpack --version

using npx webpack command

Alternatively, you can install webpack 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.

Now you can use the webpack command in the scripts section of your package.json file.

package.json

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{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "webpack --config webpack.config.js"
  }
}

Now you would run the command as npm run build and not use webpack directly in your terminal.

# Install `webpack` globally

If the error is not resolved, you can try to install webpack globally. 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

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

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.

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

npm link webpack

# Delete your node_modules and reinstall your 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.

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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

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 package in the devDependencies object.

package.json

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{
  // ... rest
  "devDependencies": {
    "webpack": "^5.71.0",
    "webpack-cli": "^4.9.2"
    // ... rest
  }
}

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

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npm install

Or install the latest version of the packages:

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

# webpack is not recognized as an internal or external command

Use npx to solve the error "webpack is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file", e.g. npx webpack or install the package locally by running npm install --save-dev webpack webpack-cli to use the command in your package.json file.

The fastest way to solve the error is to use the npx command.

shell

Copied!
npx webpack

npx webpack --version

Alternatively, you can install webpack 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 to the development dependencies of your project.

Now you can use the webpack command in the scripts section of your package.json file.

package.json

Copied!
{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "webpack --config webpack.config.js"
  }
}

Now you would run the command as npm run build and not use webpack directly in your terminal.

# Installing `webpack` globally

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

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

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

If the installation fails, open "Command Prompt" as an administrator and rerun the command.

shell

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npm install -g webpack webpack-cli

npm link webpack

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

# Update the PATH on Windows

If that doesn't help, run the following command.

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npm config get prefix

The command will show you the path where npm puts your globally installed packages. The global packages will be in the bin directory at the specified path.

Look at the PATH environment variable on your operating system and add the path that the npm config get prefix command outputs if it's not already there.

If you add the output from the command to your PATH environment variable, you have to restart any open command prompts before it takes effect.

On Windows, the output of the npm config get prefix command will look something like: C:\Users\Your_User_Name\AppData\Roaming\npm.

To update the PATH on a Windows machine, you have to:

Open the start search and type in env and then click "Edit the system environment variables"
Then click "Environment Variables"
Edit the Path variable and add the output you got from the npm config get prefix command.

The path should look like C:\Users\Your_User_Name\AppData\Roaming\npm (make sure to replace the Your_User_name placeholder with your actual username).

If you add the output from the command to your PATH environment variable, you have to restart any open command prompts before it takes effect.

If you get the error "webpack cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system", open your PowerShell as an administrator and set its execution policy with the Set-ExecutionPolicy command.

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Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

Make sure to open your PowerShell as an administrator before you run the Set-ExecutionPolicy command.

This effectively removes the execution policy of Restricted, which doesn't allow us to load configuration files or run scripts. The Restricted execution policy is the default for Windows client computers.

If you add the output from the command to your PATH environment variable, you have to restart any open command prompts before it takes effect.

If that doesn't help try to reinstall Node.js on your machine and then install webpack globally by running npm install -g webpack webpack-cli.

During the installation, you might get a prompt for whether you want to automatically update the PATH environment variable on your system, make sure to tick the option.

shell

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npm install -g webpack webpack-cli

If the global installation of webpack fails, you might have to open your command prompt as an administrator and rerun the command.

Alternatively, you can see how you can fix the permissions error on this page in the official npm docs.

# webpack-dev-server: command not found error

To solve the error "webpack-dev-server: command not found", install the package globally by running npm install -g webpack-dev-server and restart your terminal.

If the command fails, run it with sudo and make sure the correct PATH is set in your system's environment variable.

command not found webpack dev server

Open your terminal and install webpack-dev-server globally by running the following command.

shell

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# 👇️ install webpack-dev-server globally
npm install -g webpack-dev-server

# 👇️ install webpack-dev-server locally to your project
npm install webpack-dev-server --save-dev

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

shell

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# 👇️ if you got a permissions error
npm install -g webpack-dev-server

# Run the command with `npx`

Alternatively, you can open your terminal in the directory where your webpack.config.js file is and run the command npx webpack serve.

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npx webpack serve --config webpack.config.js

If the error is not resolved, try restarting your terminal.

# Update your PATH environment variable

If that doesn't help, run the following command:

shell

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npm config get prefix

The command will show you the path where npm puts your globally installed packages. The global packages will be in the bin directory at the specified path.

Look at the PATH environment variable on your operating system and add the path that the npm config get prefix command outputs if it's not already there.

If you add the output from the command to your PATH environment variable, you have to restart any open command prompts before it takes effect.

If that didn't work, try to add the path to the bin folder (from npm config get prefix) to your PATH environment variable and restart your terminal.

For example, on macOS, you can update your path with the following command:

shell

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# make sure `path` matches with `npm config get prefix`
export PATH=/usr/local/share/npm/bin:$PATH

And on Windows, the output of the npm config get prefix command will look something like: C:\Users\Your_User_Name\AppData\Roaming\npm.

Edit the environment variable on your machine and add the specified path (replacing the placeholder with your username).

If you are on Linux, you can add the output from the npm config get prefix command to your .bashrc file.

~/.bashrc

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# 👇️ make sure to update the path with the output
# from the command
export PATH="/usr/local/share/npm/bin:$PATH"

If you add the output from the command to your PATH environment variable, you have to restart any open command prompts before it takes effect.

If that doesn't help try to reinstall Node.js on your machine and then install webpack-dev-server globally by running npm install -g webpack-dev-server.

During the installation, you might get a prompt for whether you want to automatically update the PATH environment variable on your system, make sure to tick the option.

shell

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# 👇️ install `webpack-dev-server` globally
npm install -g webpack-dev-server

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

shell

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# 👇️ if you got a permissions error
sudo npm install -g webpack-dev-server

Alternatively, you can see how you can fix the permissions error on this page in the official npm docs.

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

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webpack: command not found error [Solved]

# Table of Contents