What causes "Unable to resolve version ${version} of package ${name}: ${e}" in hcengineering/platform?

Check the wrapped cause in the message: fix the underlying registry/network/404 problem it reports.

Unable to resolve version

Error message

Unable to resolve version ${version} of package ${name}: ${e}

What it means

This error is thrown by _resolvePackageVersion in install-run.js when the script cannot determine which concrete version of a package satisfies the requested version range. It wraps any failure from querying the npm registry (or a configured package manager registry) — including registry fetch failures, a non-200 response, invalid JSON, or the 'No versions found for the specified version range.' condition. The original error is appended to the message so the underlying cause is visible.

Solutions

Check the wrapped cause in the message: fix the underlying registry/network/404 problem it reports.
Verify the package name and version range are correct and that at least one published version satisfies the range (e.g. 'npm view <name> versions').
Ensure the registry is reachable and, if private, that auth is configured (NODE_AUTH_TOKEN / .npmrc) in the environment running the script.
Pin an exact existing version instead of a broad or incorrect range.
Retry after transient registry/network failures or when CI connectivity is restored.

Example fix

// before
node install-run-rush.js "@microsoft/rush" "^999.0.0" rebuild
// after
node install-run-rush.js "@microsoft/rush" "5.100.1" rebuild

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Resolve the range against the registry before invoking the script
const { execSync } = require('child_process');
try {
  const v = JSON.parse(execSync(`npm view ${name}@'${range}' version --json`, { encoding: 'utf8' }));
  if (!v) throw new Error(`no version of ${name} satisfies ${range}`);
} catch (e) {
  throw new Error(`Cannot pre-validate ${name}@${range}: ${e.message}`);
}

Try / catch

try {
  runInstallRun(name, versionRange);
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).startsWith('Unable to resolve version')) {
    // fall back to a known-good pinned version or fail fast with guidance
    console.error(`Bad range '${versionRange}': ${e.message}`);
    process.exit(1);
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

Pin exact versions instead of open ranges in automation.
Validate the range with 'npm view' in CI before running install-run.
Configure registry auth (.npmrc) on CI before invoking the script.
Wrap the whole install-run invocation in a retry for transient registry errors.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling installAndRun (or the install-run-RUSH entrypoint) with a version specifier that npm cannot resolve: a range matching no published versions, a typo'd package name (404 from registry), an unreachable/authorized-blocked registry, or a typo'd custom registry returning invalid data. Thrown from the catch block of the registry version query in _resolvePackageVersion.

Common situations: Running 'install-run-rush' in CI with a bad RUSH_VERSION pin; an internal npm registry outage or authentication requirement; a version range like '^999.0.0' that matches nothing; offline CI runners trying to resolve from the registry; typos in package name or version arguments.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hcengineering/platform@63e28dc964 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4c3e851d46481544. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at foundations/net/common/scripts/install-run.js:525

            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);
            if (fs__WEBPACK_IMPORTED_MODULE_1__.existsSync(testRushJsonPath)) {
                _rushJsonFolder = basePath;
                break;
            }
            else {

View on GitHub (pinned to 63e28dc964)