Expo prebuild error which can not create the android and ios folder.

[deadislove]

Minimal reproducible example

https://github.com/deadislove/00-login-expo

What platform(s) does this occur on?

Android

Did you reproduce this issue in a development build?

Yes

Summary

I want to do the initial project operation and use the expo cli to implement the prebuild project operation, but the cli result shows the error messages which messages below:

$ expo prebuild
(node:5632) [DEP0040] DeprecationWarning: The `punycode` module is deprecated. Please use a userland alternative instead.
(Use `node --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)
Could not parse JSON returned from "npm view expo-template-bare-minimum@sdk-51 dist.tarball --json".

https://registry.npmjs.org/expo-template-bare-minimum/-/expo-template-bare-minimum-51.0.27.tgz

Error: Unexpected token 'h', "https://re"... is not valid JSON
× Failed to create the native directory
You may want to delete the ./ios and/or ./android directories before trying again.

The older Expo SDK doesn't show it, but I can't ensure it is related to the new Node JS version. Can someone tell me how to fix it? I tried installing the package and cleaning the cache, but it didn't fix it. Please tell me the temporary solution if it concerns the SDK issues.

My laptop environment:

‵``
$ npm -g list
C:\Users\keyph\AppData\Roaming\npm
├── @angular/cli@17.3.7
├── @vue/cli-service-global@4.5.19
├── @vue/cli@5.0.8
├── eas-cli@9.0.6
├── expo@51.0.5
├── firebase-tools@13.9.0
├── node-gyp@10.1.0
├── npm@10.8.0
├── react-native-cli@2.0.1
├── react-native@0.74.1
└── typescript@5.4.5

### Environment

$ npx expo-env-info
Need to install the following packages:
expo-env-info@1.2.0
Ok to proceed? (y) y

expo-env-info 1.2.0 environment info:
System:
OS: Windows 11 10.0.22621
Binaries:
Node: 22.2.0 - C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.EXE
npm: 10.8.0 - ~\AppData\Roaming\npm\npm.CMD
SDKs:
Android SDK:
API Levels: 30, 31, 32, 33, 33, 33
Build Tools: 30.0.2, 30.0.3, 31.0.0, 32.0.0, 32.1.0, 33.0.0, 33.0.1, 33.0.2
System Images: android-31 | Intel x86_64 Atom, android-31 | Google APIs Intel x86_64 Atom, android-31 | Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom, android-33-ext4 | Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom, android-33-ext5 | Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom, android-33 | Google APIs ARM 64 v8a, android-33 | Google APIs Intel x86_64 Atom, android-33 | Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom
IDEs:
Android Studio: AI-223.8836.35.2231.10671973
npmPackages:
expo: ~51.0.7 => 51.0.8
react: 18.2.0 => 18.2.0
react-dom: 18.2.0 => 18.2.0
react-native: 0.74.1 => 0.74.1
react-native-web: ~0.19.10 => 0.19.11
Expo Workflow: managed

### Expo Doctor Diagnostics

$ npx expo-doctor@latest
Need to install the following packages:
expo-doctor@1.6.1
Ok to proceed? (y) y

(node:28164) [DEP0040] DeprecationWarning: The punycode module is deprecated. Please use a userland alternative instead.
(Use node --trace-deprecation ... to show where the warning was created)
WARNING: We recommend using PowerShell or Bash via WSL 2 for development with Expo CLI on Windows. You may encounter issues using cmd.exe.

✔ Check Expo config for common issues
✔ Check package.json for common issues
✔ Check native tooling versions
✔ Check dependencies for packages that should not be installed directly
✔ Check for common project setup issues
✔ Check npm/ yarn versions
✔ Check for issues with metro config
✔ Check for legacy global CLI installed locally
✔ Check that native modules do not use incompatible support packages
✔ Check Expo config (app.json/ app.config.js) schema
✔ Check that packages match versions required by installed Expo SDK
✔ Check that native modules use compatible support package versions for installed Expo SDK

Didn't find any issues with the project!

[kadikraman]

Hi @deadislove I was talking to someone else who had the same issue as you, and the root cause was the node version. Can you try downgrading to node@20? I'm on v20.12.0 but I think any 20.x version should work.

I think there may be some kind of breaking change in v22 that causes this issue. The Expo framework isn't tested on node@v22, so for now the best version to use is still node@v20.

[deadislove]

Hi @deadislove I was talking to someone else who had the same issue as you, and the root cause was the node version. Can you try downgrading to node@20? I'm on v20.12.0 but I think any 20.x version should work.

I think there may be some kind of breaking change in v22 that causes this issue. The Expo framework isn't tested on node@v22, so for now the best version to use is still node@v20.

Hi @kadikraman
I tried it, and it worked, but I have another question. Will the NodeJS and Expo versions affect the Auth0 package? I tried to use the older versions of NodeJS and Expo, but I found out that Auth0's getCredentials function always responds with an undefined value, so I updated my Expo and NodeJS.

[achou11]

I ran into this issue because I updated my global npm version to v10.8 (still using node v20). Downgrading npm back to what I had before (v10.6) fixed the issue for me.

In case it's helpful to understand the default npm version associated with specific node versions: https://nodejs.org/en/about/previous-releases#looking-for-latest-release-of-a-version-branch

[itamarbareket]

Downgrading to npm@10.6.0 solves it for now.

❯ npm view --json expo-template-bare-minimum@sdk-50 dist.tarball
https://registry.npmjs.org/expo-template-bare-minimum/-/expo-template-bare-minimum-50.0.43.tgz

❯ npm --version
10.8.0

❯ npm i -g npm@10.6.0

removed 1 package, and changed 57 packages in 2s

24 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

❯ npm --version      
10.6.0

❯ npm view expo-template-bare-minimum@sdk-50 dist.tarball --json
"https://registry.npmjs.org/expo-template-bare-minimum/-/expo-template-bare-minimum-50.0.43.tgz"

NPM 10.8.0 is not returning a valid JSON

Related NPM bug: npm/cli#7537

[madmeatballs]

Downgrading to npm@10.6.0 solves it for now.

❯ npm view --json expo-template-bare-minimum@sdk-50 dist.tarball
https://registry.npmjs.org/expo-template-bare-minimum/-/expo-template-bare-minimum-50.0.43.tgz

❯ npm --version
10.8.0

❯ npm i -g npm@10.6.0

removed 1 package, and changed 57 packages in 2s

24 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

❯ npm --version      
10.6.0

❯ npm view expo-template-bare-minimum@sdk-50 dist.tarball --json
"https://registry.npmjs.org/expo-template-bare-minimum/-/expo-template-bare-minimum-50.0.43.tgz"

NPM 10.8.0 is not returning a valid JSON

Related NPM bug: npm/cli#7537

This works if ever someone else also encounters this.

[itamarbareket]

npm@10.8.1 is out now with the bugfix, this issue can be closed.