Template not provided using create-react-app

Question

When I type the create-react-app my-app command in my terminal, it appears to work - downloading all libraries successfully etc. At the end of that process however I get a message that a template was not provided.

Input

user@users-MacBook-Pro-2 Desktop% create-react-app my-app

Output

Creating a new React app in /Users/user/Desktop/my-app.

Installing packages. This might take a couple of minutes.
Installing react, react-dom, and react-scripts...
..... nothing out of the ordinary here .....
✨  Done in 27.28s.

A template was not provided. This is likely because you're using an outdated version of create-react-app.
Please note that global installs of create-react-app are no longer supported.

In package.json of my-app:

"dependencies": {
  "react": "^16.12.0",
  "react-dom": "^16.12.0",
  "react-scripts": "3.3.0" <-- up-to-date
}

I checked out the CRA changelog and it looks like support was added for custom templates - however it doesn't look like the command create-react-app my-app would have changed.

Any idea what is going on here?

Answer 1

1)

npm uninstall -g create-react-app

or

yarn global remove create-react-app

2)

There seems to be a bug where create-react-app isn't properly uninstalled and using one of the new commands lead to:

A template was not provided. This is likely because you're using an outdated version of create-react-app.

After uninstalling it with npm uninstall -g create-react-app, check whether you still have it "installed" with which create-react-app on your command line. If it returns something (e.g. /usr/local/bin/create-react-app), then do a rm -rf /usr/local/bin/create-react-app to delete manually.

3)

Then one of these ways:

npx create-react-app my-app
npm init react-app my-app
yarn create react-app my-app

Answer 2

TLDR: Uninstall the global package using npm uninstall -g create-react-app and generate new react apps using npx create-react-app app.

---

Issue

You're using an older version of create-react-app that you have installed globally using npm. The create-react-app command invokes this global package.

You could've confirmed that you were using an outdated version by running npm outdated -g create-react-app or comparing create-react-app --version with npm view create-react-app.

The fact that the version of react-scripts was up to date, has nothing to do with the version of the package that is bootstrapping the app (create-react-app), which grabs the latest versions of the packages that it uses (react-scripts in this case).

Solution

If you want to continue using the create-react-app command, you'll need to update the global package using npm update -g create-react-app. Note that you'll want to do this periodically to keep it up to date. You'll notice that create-react-app does not recommend this (noted in the logs from your install).

A better approach would be to delete the global install entirely (npm uninstall -g create-react-app) and instead use npx so that it grabs the latest version of the package every time (more detail on npx below).

You should confirm that it was uninstalled globally by trying to use create-react-app to make sure the command is "not found".

Issues with uninstalling?

You can debug where it was installed using which create-react-app. If you're having issues uninstalling it, you may have multiple versions of node/npm on your machine (from multiple installs, or because you use a node version manager such as nvm). This is a separate issue I won't address here, but there's some info in this answer.

A quick nuclear approach would be to forcefully remove it (rm -rf) at the path that which create-react-app returns.

---

Supplement

Global npm packages and the npx command

$ NPM_PACKAGE_NAME will always use the globally installed version of the package, regardless of which directory you're in.

$ npx NPM_PACKAGE_NAME will use the first version of the package that it finds when searching up from the current directory to the root:

• If you have the package in your current directory, it will use that.
• Else if you have the package in a directory that is a parent of your current directory, it will use the first one it finds.
• Else if you have the package installed globally, it will use that.
• Else if you don't have the package at all, it will temporarily install it, use it, and then discard it. - this is the best way to ensure the package is up to date.

More info about npx can be found in this answer.

Using npx with create-react-app

create-react-app has some special commands/aliases to create a react app (instead of npx) that are specific to that package (yarn create react-app, npm init react-app), but npx create-react-app will work the same as it does with other packages.

yarn vs npm global installs

Yarn stores global installs in a different folder than npm, which is why yarn create react-app would work immediately without uninstalling the global npm package (as far as yarn is concerned, the package hasn't been installed).

This is just a temporary solution though, as you'll need to remember to always use yarn instead of npm when using Create React App.

Answer 3

This worked for me 1.First uninstall create-react-app globally by this command:

npm uninstall -g create-react-app

If there you still have the previous installation please delete the folder called my app completely.(Make sure no program is using that folder including your terminal or cmd promt)

2.then in your project directory:

npm install create-react-app@latest

3.finally:

npx create-react-app my-app

Answer 4

So I've gone through all the steps here, but non helped.

TLDR; run npx --ignore-existing create-react-app

I am on a Mac with Mojave 10.15.2

CRA was not installed globally - didn't find it in /usr/local/lib/node_modules or /usr/local/bin either.

Then I came across this comment on CRA's github issues. Running the command with the --ignore-existing flag helped.

Answer 5

1. npm install -g create-react-app in your pc
2. create react project again with npx create-react-app my-app

Answer 6

npx create-react-app@latest your-project-name

work for me after trying all the answers hope that can help someone in the future.