What causes "No versions found for the specified version range." in hcengineering/platform?

Use a broader or valid version range, e.g. rush@^5 instead of a range above every published version.

No versions found for the specified version range.

Error message

No versions found for the specified version range.

What it means

After `npm view <name>@<version> version --json` succeeds, _resolvePackageVersion iterates the returned versions to find the maximum. If the output yields an empty list (or JSON.parse produced nothing usable), latestVersion stays empty and this Error is thrown — the specified range matched no published versions.

Source

Thrown at foundations/net/common/scripts/install-run.js:520

            const platformNpmPath = _getPlatformPath(npmPath);
            const npmVersionSpawnResult = child_process__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_0__.spawnSync(platformNpmPath, ['view', `${name}@${version}`, 'version', '--no-update-notifier', '--json'], spawnSyncOptions);
            if (npmVersionSpawnResult.status !== 0) {
                throw new Error(`"npm view" returned error code ${npmVersionSpawnResult.status}`);
            }
            const npmViewVersionOutput = npmVersionSpawnResult.stdout.toString();
            const parsedVersionOutput = JSON.parse(npmViewVersionOutput);
            const versions = Array.isArray(parsedVersionOutput)
                ? parsedVersionOutput
                : [parsedVersionOutput];
            let latestVersion = versions[0];
            for (let i = 1; i < versions.length; i++) {
                const latestVersionCandidate = versions[i];
                if (_compareVersionStrings(latestVersionCandidate, latestVersion) > 0) {
                    latestVersion = latestVersionCandidate;
                }
            }
            if (!latestVersion) {
                throw new Error('No versions found for the specified version range.');
            }
            return latestVersion;
        }
        catch (e) {
            throw new Error(`Unable to resolve version ${version} of package ${name}: ${e}`);
        }
    }
}
let _rushJsonFolder;
/**
 * Find the absolute path to the folder containing rush.json
 */
function findRushJsonFolder() {
    if (!_rushJsonFolder) {
        let basePath = __dirname;
        let tempPath = __dirname;
        do {
            const testRushJsonPath = path__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_3__.join(basePath, RUSH_JSON_FILENAME);

View on GitHub (pinned to 63e28dc964)

Solutions

Use a broader or valid version range, e.g. rush@^5 instead of a range above every published version.
Run `npm view <name> versions --json` to see which versions actually exist and pick one.
Pin an exact published version to bypass range resolution: install-run.js <name>@<exact>.
Check registry/mirror health if the package clearly has versions but an empty result came back.

Example fix

// before
node install-run.js typescript@>99.0.0  // no versions match
// after
node install-run.js typescript@^5.0.0   // resolves to latest matching published version

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const out = spawnSync('npm', ['view', name, 'versions', '--json'], { encoding: 'utf8' })
const versions = JSON.parse(out.stdout)
if (!Array.isArray(versions) || versions.length === 0) throw new Error(`${name} has no published versions in this registry`)

Type guard

function hasPublishedVersions(pkg: { versions?: unknown }): pkg is { versions: string[] } {
  return Array.isArray((pkg as any).versions) && (pkg as any).versions.length > 0
}

Try / catch

try {
  const v = resolvePackageVersion(name, range)
} catch (e) {
  if (/No versions found for the specified version range/.test(e.message)) {
    console.error(`Range ${range} matched nothing for ${name}; run npm view ${name} versions --json and pick a valid one`)
  }
  throw e
}

Prevention

Check `npm view <name> versions --json` before using an unusual range.
Prefer caret ranges (^x.y.z) over open-ended ranges like >x that can match nothing.
Confirm the private registry actually mirrors the package before bootstrap.
Pin exact versions in scripts where resolution failure would block a pipeline.

When it happens

Trigger: A version range/rather exotic specifier (e.g. >9.9.9, a dist-tag-like string) that resolves against the registry but returns zero versions, so the comparison loop never sets latestVersion.

Common situations: A range too high for the package's published versions; querying an empty/newly created private package; mirror/registry returning an empty but successful result; npm returning an unexpected JSON shape after a registry change.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hcengineering/platform@63e28dc964 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8cf9fb0585e7fa0e. Report an issue: GitHub.