What causes "Unable to create package.json: ${e}" in hcengineering/platform?

Ensure common/temp exists and is writable by the current user

Unable to create package.json: ${e}

Error message

Unable to create package.json: ${e}

What it means

_createPackageJson writes a minimal package.json (with the requested package as a dependency) into the temporary install folder using fs.writeFileSync. If the write fails for any reason, the error is wrapped as "Unable to create package.json". This is a hard prerequisite for the subsequent npm install step.

Source

Thrown at foundations/server/common/scripts/install-run.js:626

    }
}
function _createPackageJson(packageInstallFolder, name, version) {
    try {
        const packageJsonContents = {
            name: 'ci-rush',
            version: '0.0.0',
            dependencies: {
                [name]: version
            },
            description: "DON'T WARN",
            repository: "DON'T WARN",
            license: 'MIT'
        };
        const packageJsonPath = path__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_3__.join(packageInstallFolder, PACKAGE_JSON_FILENAME);
        fs__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_1__.writeFileSync(packageJsonPath, JSON.stringify(packageJsonContents, undefined, 2));
    }
    catch (e) {
        throw new Error(`Unable to create package.json: ${e}`);
    }
}
/**
 * Run "npm install" in the package install folder.
 */
function _installPackage(logger, packageInstallFolder, name, version, command) {
    try {
        logger.info(`Installing ${name}...`);
        const npmPath = getNpmPath();
        const platformNpmPath = _getPlatformPath(npmPath);
        const result = child_process__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_0__.spawnSync(platformNpmPath, [command], {
            stdio: 'inherit',
            cwd: packageInstallFolder,
            env: process.env,
            shell: _isWindows()
        });
        if (result.status !== 0) {
            throw new Error(`"npm ${command}" encountered an error`);

View on GitHub (pinned to 63e28dc964)

Solutions

Ensure common/temp exists and is writable by the current user
Clear common/temp/install-run and re-run to remove any half-deleted state
Free disk space or raise the quota on the CI machine
Avoid running multiple install-run invocations concurrently against the same repo temp folder

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const fs = require('fs')
fs.mkdirSync('common/temp/install-run', { recursive: true })
fs.accessSync('common/temp/install-run', fs.constants.W_OK)
fs.accessSync('.', fs.constants.W_OK) // approximate disk writability check

Prevention

Ensure the repo temp folder exists and is writable before running install-run
Check free disk space in CI before install steps
Serialize install-run executions to avoid racing folder cleanup

When it happens

Trigger: The package install folder under common/temp/install-run does not exist, was removed concurrently, or is not writable; disk full; path length/permission issues on Windows.

Common situations: CI runners with read-only caches; another concurrent install-run process deleted the folder mid-run; disk quota exceeded on shared CI machines.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hcengineering/platform@63e28dc964 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d1878a543bd4d701. Report an issue: GitHub.