hcengineering/platform · error · Error

"npm view" returned error code ${npmVersionSpawnResult.statu

Error message

"npm view" returned error code ${npmVersionSpawnResult.status}

What it means

_resolvePackageVersion shells out to `npm view <name>@<version> version --json` to resolve the latest version satisfying a range. If the spawned npm exits with a non-zero status, the script throws this error with the exit code, before attempting to parse output.

Source

Thrown at foundations/core/common/scripts/install-run.js:505

            // ]
            // ```
            //
            // if multiple versions match the selector, or
            //
            // ```
            // "3.0.0"
            // ```
            //
            // if only a single version matches.
            const spawnSyncOptions = {
                cwd: rushTempFolder,
                stdio: [],
                shell: _isWindows()
            };
            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;
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to 63e28dc964)

Solutions

  1. Run `npm view <name>@<range> version` manually to see the underlying registry error
  2. Fix .npmrc registry/auth for private packages (and ensure the syncNpmrc step has the needed env vars)
  3. Check network/proxy/VPN connectivity to the npm registry in CI
  4. Verify the package name and version range are correct

Example fix

// before
node install-run-rush.js  # fails: npm view returned error code 1
// after
npm view @microsoft/rush@^5.0.0 version  # diagnose; fix .npmrc authToken or network, then retry
Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

const probe = child_process.spawnSync('npm', ['ping', '--registry', registry], { stdio: [] });
if (probe.status !== 0) throw new Error('npm registry unreachable or unauthorized: ' + probe.stderr);

Try / catch

try { resolveVersion(name, range); }
catch (e) { if (/"npm view" returned error code/.test(e.message)) { console.error('Check registry connectivity/auth for ' + name + ' (exit ' + e.message + ')'); if (isTransient(e)) await retry(() => resolveVersion(name, range), 3); } else throw e; }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: npm view fails because the package/version range doesn't exist, the registry is unreachable or returns 4xx/5xx, auth is required but missing, or npm itself errors (bad config, proxy failure).

Common situations: Offline/air-gapped CI without registry access; private registry auth missing in .npmrc; typo'd package name; proxy/firewall blocking registry.npmjs.org.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hcengineering/platform@63e28dc964 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f8b0504a62809c7f. Report an issue: GitHub.