angular/angular-cli · error · CommandError

Unable to load package information from registry: ${e.messag

Error message

Unable to load package information from registry: ${e.message}

What it means

In findCompatiblePackageVersionTask, after 'latest' metadata was fetched, any further failure while resolving a compatible version is caught, run through assertIsError, and rethrown as a CommandError 'Unable to load package information from registry: <e.message>'. It surfaces registry/network/package-not-found failures during the 'ng add' version-resolution task.

Source

Thrown at packages/angular/cli/src/commands/add/cli.ts:379

    // Attempt to use the 'latest' tag from the registry.
    try {
      const latestManifest = await packageManager.getManifest(`${packageName}@latest`, {
        registry,
      });

      if (latestManifest) {
        const conflicts = await this.getPeerDependencyConflicts(latestManifest);
        if (!conflicts) {
          context.packageIdentifier = npa.resolve(latestManifest.name, latestManifest.version);
          task.output = `Found compatible package version: ${color.blue(latestManifest.version)}.`;

          return;
        }
        rejectionReasons.push(...conflicts);
      }
    } catch (e) {
      assertIsError(e);
      throw new CommandError(`Unable to load package information from registry: ${e.message}`);
    }

    // 'latest' is invalid or not found, search for most recent matching package.
    task.output =
      'Could not find a compatible version with `latest`. Searching for a compatible version.';

    let packageMetadata;
    try {
      packageMetadata = await packageManager.getRegistryMetadata(packageName, {
        registry,
      });
    } catch (e) {
      assertIsError(e);
      throw new CommandError(`Unable to load package information from registry: ${e.message}`);
    }

    if (!packageMetadata) {
      throw new CommandError('Unable to load package information from registry.');

View on GitHub (pinned to bb72145f9a)

Solutions

1. Fix the underlying cause shown in e.message — verify the package name is spelled correctly and exists on the configured registry.
2. Check network/VPN/proxy settings and confirm 'npm view <package>' works with the same registry.
3. For private packages, configure auth (NPM_TOKEN / .npmrc authToken) for the scope's registry.
4. Retry if the error was transient (429/5xx from the registry), or pin a concrete version: 'ng add @scope/pkg@1.2.3'.

Example fix

// before
ng add @anguler/localize

// after (correct name)
ng add @angular/localize

const res = await fetch(`${registry.replace(/\/$/, '')}/${packageName.replace('/', '%2F')}`);
if (!res.ok) {
  throw new Error(`Package '${packageName}' not reachable on ${registry} (HTTP ${res.status})`);
}

function isAggregateOrPlainError(e: unknown): e is Error {
  return e instanceof Error;
}

try {
  await ngAdd(packageName, { registry });
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).startsWith('Unable to load package information from registry')) {
    // check package name, network, and registry auth, then retry
  } else { throw e; }
}

When it happens

Trigger: During 'ng add', the version-resolution task fails while querying the registry for versions of a package whose 'latest' was invalid or not found — network failure, 404 for a nonexistent package name, private package without auth, or a custom registry being unreachable.

Common situations: Typo in the package name passed to 'ng add'; installing an @scope/private package without registry auth tokens; offline or corporate proxy blocking registry.npmjs.org; --registry pointing to a mirror that lacks the package.

Related errors

• Option --registry must be a valid URL.
• Unable to load package information from registry.
• Port ${input.port} is unavailable. Try calling this tool aga
• Search request failed with status ${response.status} (${resp
• ${parsedError.summary}

AI-assisted analysis of angular/angular-cli@bb72145f9a (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/476ceac3a41edf0b. Report an issue: GitHub.