ReferenceError: primordials is not defined in Node.js [Fix]

# Table of Contents

1. ReferenceError: primordials is not defined in Node.js
2. Pinning your version of graceful-fs to 4.2.11
3. Upgrading Gulp to version 4
4. Downgrading Node.js to version 11.X

# ReferenceError: primordials is not defined in Node.js

The error "ReferenceError: primordials is not defined" occurs when you use Gulp.js version 3 with Node.js version 12 or greater.

You can solve the error by:

1. Pinning the version of the dependency that causes the issue (graceful-fs).
2. Upgrading Gulp.js to version 4.
3. Downgrading your Node.js version to 11.x.

Here is the complete stack trace.

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ReferenceError: primordials is not defined
    at fs.js:35:5
    at req_ (C:\Users\borislav\Desktop\project\node_modules\natives\index.js:143:24)
    at Object.req [as require] (C:\Users\borislav\Desktop\project\node_modules\natives\index.js:55:10)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\borislav\Desktop\project\node_modules\graceful-fs\fs.js:1:37)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1138:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1158:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:986:32)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:879:14)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1026:19)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:72:18)

You can use the node -v command to check your version of Node.js.

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node -v

You can check your version of the Gulp.js package by issuing the following command.

Gulp.js version 3 doesn't support Node.js version 12 and greater.

This is because gulp has graceful-fs@3.0.0 as a dependency and that version of graceful-fs doesn't support Node.js version 12 and greater.

# Pinning your version of graceful-fs to 4.2.11

If you want to be able to use gulp version 3 with a Node.js version that is greater than 12, you can pin your version of the graceful-fs package to 4.2.11.

1. Issue the node -v command to get your version of Node.js.

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node -v

2. Pin your version of the graceful-fs package to 4.2.11.

# When using NPM with Node.js >= 16.14.0

If your version of Node.js is greater than or equal to 16.14.0, set the overrides property in your package.json file.

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{
  "overrides": {
    "graceful-fs": "^4.2.11"
  }
}

Rerun the npm install command after setting the property.

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npm install

# When using NPM with Node.js < 16.14.0

If your Node.js version is less than 16.14.0, you have to use the npm-force-resolutions package.

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{
  "resolutions": {
    "graceful-fs": "^4.2.11"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "preinstall": "npx npm-force-resolutions"
  }
}

Rerun the npm install command after setting the properties.

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npm install

Version 4.2.11 of the graceful-fs package supports more recent versions of Node.js.

# When using YARN

If you use the yarn package manager, use the resolutions property in your package.json file to pin the version of the graceful-fs module.

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{
  "resolutions": {
    "graceful-fs": "^4.2.11"
  }
}

Rerun the yarn install command after setting the property.

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yarn install

# When using pnpm

If you use the pnpm package manager, set the pnpm.overrides property in your package.json file.

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{
  "pnpm": {
    "overrides": {
      "graceful-fs": "^4.2.11"
    }
  }
}

Rerun the pnpm install command after setting the property.

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pnpm install

# Upgrading Gulp to version 4

An alternative way to solve the error is to upgrade your version of gulp to version 4 or the latest version.

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# with NPM
npm install gulp@latest

If you use YARN, issue the following command instead.

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# with YARN
yarn upgrade gulp@latest

You can read about what's new in Gulp version 4 in this section of the package's NPM page.

If you need to familiarize yourself with the new API, follow the Quick Start guide.

Version 4 of gulp doesn't depend on version 3.0.0 of the graceful-fs module, so it can be used with Node.js version 12 and greater.

If the error persists, try to delete your node_modules and reinstall your dependencies.

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# 👇️  (Windows) delete node_modules and package-lock.json
rd /s /q "node_modules"
del package-lock.json
del -f yarn.lock

# 👇️  (macOS/Linux) delete node_modules and package-lock.json
rm -rf node_modules
rm -f package-lock.json
rm -f yarn.lock

# 👇️ clean your npm cache
npm cache clean --force

npm install

Try to issue the gulp command after adapting your project to Gulp version 4.

# Downgrading Node.js to version 11.X

Another way to solve the error is to downgrade your version of Node.js to version 11.

Node.js version 11 can still be used with gulp version 3 without any issues.

However, it should be noted that version 11 is very out of date, so downgrading is not recommended.

There are 4 main packages you can use to downgrade your Node.js version.

• nvm for Windows
• nvm for macOS and Linux
• n
• volta

Click on one of the links to view the installation instructions.

# With NVM for macOS and Linux

For example, if you install nvm for macOS and Linux or nvm for Windows, you can use the following commands to downgrade your Node.js version.

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nvm install 11

nvm use 11

# With the n package

You can also use the n package to downgrade your Node.js version.

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npm install -g n

sudo n 11.15.0

# With the volta package

If you install the volta package, use the following command to downgrade your Node.js version.

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volta install node@11.15.0

However, note that downgrading to version 11 is not generally recommended.

Instead, it is much better to pin the version of graceful-fs or upgrade gulp to version 4.