Angular CLI Error: The serve command requires to be run in an Angular project, but a project definition could not be found

Question

When running the terminal commands ng server or ng serve --live-reload=true, I'm getting this issue:

The serve command requires to be run in an Angular project, but a project definition could not be found.

Check if you have folder node_modules in the project folder, if not perform npm install — KEMBL, Jan 07 '19 at 11:48
I stumbled across this question when I had the same error message when trying to run "ng build". The answer for me was to run "npm run build" — cfranklin, Feb 14 '20 at 18:55
I was in root directory, and getting this error :D. After `ng new project` I forgot to enter project directory. — Davut Gürbüz, Jul 07 '20 at 08:43
I had the same problem as @DavutGürbüz , I was in the root directory and forgot to enter the project folder after creating angular project. — 27px, Dec 21 '20 at 04:27

score 255 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 01 '20 at 05:23

255

I was also getting this issue and solved by running below command.

ng update @angular/cli --migrate-only --from=<WhateverVersionYouAreCurrentlyOn>

e.g.

ng update @angular/cli --migrate-only --from=1.7.3

getting ref from here

edited Nov 01 '20 at 05:23

Osama Rizwan

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answered Nov 01 '18 at 07:40

Lakhwinder Singh

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45

It happens because new angular-cli depends uses angular.json instead of .angular-cli.json as project file, and your answer takes care of this conversion – Code Name Jack Nov 03 '18 at 19:05
7

Note: The `--from=1.7.4` represents the version being migrated from, so the `1.7.4` should be changed to the angular version you were formerly using (eg: `5.2.10`, `6.0.0`, etc). – cjn Nov 14 '18 at 03:58
4

ng update @angular/cli << this worked for me with an existing project from angular 6 to 7 – Abdullah Adeeb Nov 18 '18 at 04:25
2

I was on 1.2.4 and got the following error: `The specified command update is invalid. For available options, see ``ng help``.` I solved it by updating angular-cli to 1.7.4 and then following this answer. – ILikeFood Jan 09 '19 at 22:26
I have already updated version angular@cli (7.3.4) but still showing the same error. please help to resolve this. – Ajit Kumar Mar 04 '19 at 12:00
1

Thanks. Working for me when i upgraded angular from 4.4.7 to 7 – Pullat Junaid Apr 24 '19 at 11:38
1

You don't even know how much your post helped me! I've spend a whole day strrugling with this migration, all in vain but after I found your post and ran this command everything started to work perfectly. Thanks a lot! – Konstantin May 02 '19 at 08:09
Was getting this error when scaffolding a new project with VS2017 and .Net Core. Couldn't fix it, with this or other answers. Wound up deleting the project solution, updating Angular and re-scaffolded, worked fine. Was mistakenly thinking VS would install the latest version, but seems that it simply runs the `ng new ClientApp` command in the solution dir and the version is dependent on what you have already installed via CLI =/ – Zach A May 07 '19 at 01:07
How do we know which version we are on – VivekDev Feb 01 '20 at 13:44
1

@VivekDev you can check the version by this command `ng version`. Go to your project directory and run this command – Lakhwinder Singh Feb 03 '20 at 13:45
I successfully used this strategy to upgrade from Angular 5.2.5 to 10.0.1. All migration steps were carried out successfully. – MichaelHuelsen Jul 02 '20 at 17:49

score 140 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 01 '18 at 07:41

140

make sure that you are running the command in the application root folder..

answered Nov 01 '18 at 07:41

Me1o

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to access your root folder use `pm> dir` `pm> cd clientapp` then if you have error message use the following `pm>ng config -g cli.warnings.versionMismatch false` – hosam hemaily Jun 26 '19 at 18:36
11

Simplest answer is often the right one, cheers buddy. – static_null Oct 07 '20 at 02:03

score 54 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 15 '19 at 10:41

54

if you have downloaded a project,do in the project

npm install

answered Feb 15 '19 at 10:41

Muraletharan

557
4
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my issue was private npm packages that was not installed – David May 21 '19 at 08:21
Same issue I had when trying the test projects for an angular tutorial – mahlatse Sep 09 '19 at 12:08

score 23 · Answer 4 · edited Nov 06 '19 at 19:55

23

Finally, the command below fixed the issue for me!

ng update --all --force

edited Nov 06 '19 at 19:55

Lesiak

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answered Mar 12 '19 at 11:47

Shahzeen shaikh

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I tried `ng update @angular/cli` didn't work but `ng update --all --force` worked as expected what would be the difference ? – k11k2 Apr 09 '19 at 12:03
'--all' functionality has been removed as updating multiple packages at once is not recommended. To update packages which don’t provide 'ng update' capabilities in your workspace 'package.json' use 'npm update' instead. – not2savvy Feb 14 '22 at 15:02

score 18 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

18

Angular Cli Error: The serve command requires to be run in an Angular project, but a project definition could not be found

Problem was missing angular.json files.

    ng update --all --force

Tested in Angular 7+

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Jun 25 '19 at 11:25

afeef

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StefaDesign · Answer 6 · 2020-01-12T19:40:01.697

It was silly me but need to leave comment maybe I save someone else some hassle. Same message happens if you multitask and have multiple projects so some of project is nested inside project folder like projectFolder/subProject/projectOne so I was in projectFolder/subProject trying to run command ng serve.

Make sure you are in correct folder because same error will occur if you are in wrong folder and conf and build is missing!

score 6 · Answer 7 · answered May 13 '19 at 06:16

6

It was happening in my existing project as I tried to update to latest node and npm packages:

Uninstall global: npm uninstall -g angular-cli
Reset Cache: npm cache clean or npm cache verify (for npm version > 5)
Install latest: npm install -g @angular/cli@latest

answered May 13 '19 at 06:16

amrendra

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The only issue with uninstalling and installing npm is that it may break 3rd party libraries that are installed. Another work around would be to just copy paste package.json and package-lock.json from repo and then do npm-update. – Haseeb Khan May 10 '22 at 09:30

score 5 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 13 '19 at 05:14

5

Make sure you have set the new angular version configuration in your project. The new angular cli uses angular.json and not .angular-cli.json for its configuration.

Follow migration guide.

answered Feb 13 '19 at 05:14

Lasithe

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score 3 · Answer 9 · answered Feb 18 '19 at 13:04

3

In your Package Manager Console run the command

PM> cd NameofApp

then you can try to run the command there.For instance

PM > ng generate component Home

answered Feb 18 '19 at 13:04

Zubeid Hendricks

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score 3 · Answer 10 · edited Feb 28 '19 at 09:24

3

This happens when you try to run the Angular command "ng s" or "ng serve" on the other folder instead of the root folder of the Angular application.

Also upgrade the Angular using the following command:

ng update @angular/cli --migrate-only --from=1.7.4

This will sort it out.

edited Feb 28 '19 at 09:24

סטנלי גרונן

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answered Feb 28 '19 at 08:04

OmkieIT Solutions

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score 3 · Answer 11 · edited Sep 25 '19 at 11:45

This error may be occur when we are in wrong directory.so use cd command to change your directory. It's not very evident from the above comment that which specific command is giving this error so this answer is based on assumption that you are running ng serve outside the root folder/actual project folder. That's why it's giving error because cli commands require conf & build files to run the cli build.

These should be the steps:
npm install -g @angular/cli  //corrected from 'angular-cli'
ng new projectname
cd projectname
ng serve
open http://localhost:4200

score 3 · Answer 12 · answered Jan 21 '20 at 07:51

to reinstall back freshly the application is way better rather than update or editing some config that is not recognize by npm due to missing config or we are not really sure what is wrong.

I choose @Tinu solution is work

Step 1) npm install -g @angular/cli

Step 2) ng new my-angular-project

Step 3) cd my-angular-project

Step 4) ng serve --open

just made backup for our current source code and put it back to new angular project that be created.

score 3 · Answer 13 · answered Mar 06 '20 at 18:27

3

Change to your app folder, and run generate command again:

answered Mar 06 '20 at 18:27

live-love

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score 3 · Answer 14 · answered Apr 29 '20 at 19:55

This error usually can be traced back to an update to our global or local CLI runtime. To check if this is the problem, we need to review the package.json file. There, we should look for the @angular/cli dependency. This should indicate the CLI version that was used to create our project. Lets make a note of this value, as we need to use it to migrate our project later on.

We should now compare to the current CLI runtime by entering the following command on the terminal window.

ng v

If you get error An unhandled exception occurred: ENOENT: no such file or directory, scandir '~/your-app/node_modules', then you forgot to run npm install

The console should display the current CLI version. If the versions are different, we need to migrate the project to the new CLI version by running the command below. Note that the from version parameter should set to the value found for the @angular/cli setting.

ng update @angular/cli --migrate-only --from=1.6.7

We should now take a look at our project and should notice changes to the CLI dependency version in the package.json file. Also depending on your CLI version, the .angular-cli.json file is deleted, and a new angular.json file is created. This is the project file that the new CLI is looking for and thus the source of the error of no project found. By adding this file, we should be able to be back on track on run our project again.

We should be able to enter the following command and the project should be loading fine.

ng server

Thanks to ozkary

score 2 · Answer 15 · answered Mar 15 '19 at 06:25

2

I had the same issue with Angular7 because we need to go the root folder before run your application. Go to the root folder of your app and run the command. It works perfectly for me.

answered Mar 15 '19 at 06:25

Chamila Maddumage

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score 2 · Answer 16 · answered May 02 '19 at 10:53

2

The same problem I came across, but I solved by following these steps of code.

Step 1) npm install -g @angular/cli
Step 2) ng new my-angular-project
Step 3) cd my-angular-project
Step 4) ng serve --open

answered May 02 '19 at 10:53

Tinu Mathai

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Why we have to create a new project? I want this to be done for existing one – Dadhich Sourav Nov 27 '19 at 10:49
why create a new project ? If a anyone is having the problem in existing project – Lint Jan 28 '20 at 16:02

score 2 · Answer 17 · answered Jul 31 '19 at 16:54

This error occurs when the project you are running is not an angular project. Though you have downloaded an angular project but have not installed all the dependencies thats why the ng serve command is not available to you.

Just navigate to the path where the project is stored and use the command

npm install

(Note - Node.js should be installed in your system and if you are using Angular 2 or above angular cli should also be installed in your system before you run this command. To check if the node.js is installed n your system 1) Open cmd (any path- as node should be globally installed in your system) 2) use command

node -v
npm -v

to get node and npm version)

One more important thing: The angular cli version won't make a difference if the version installed in your system is higher than the version required by the project. It will give a warning but you can ignore the warning.

haha my case is exactly like that, npm install worked for me, it was the dependencies that made noise — Gopal, Nov 09 '20 at 08:01

viveksuggu · Answer 18 · 2019-09-20T09:04:36.263

2

Tried all the above But for me it was solved by

npm start

edited Sep 20 '19 at 09:04

answered Sep 20 '19 at 06:36

viveksuggu

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this should be in the comment section – Pardeep Sep 20 '19 at 07:07
@Pardeep I have tried all the above answer but npm start worked me. so it will helpful for the other developer. if it is made as eye catching answer rather than keeping in the comments – viveksuggu Sep 20 '19 at 09:03

sid7747 · Answer 19 · 2020-05-29T08:05:22.883

2

Make sure you have created angular App using below command, then running ng serve in created Project folder.

ng new Project_Name

edited May 29 '20 at 08:05

answered Sep 27 '19 at 20:37

sid7747

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score 2 · Answer 20 · answered Jan 15 '21 at 10:12

2

This project doesn't use the angular cli, it uses webpack directly. To start run the command

npm start

answered Jan 15 '21 at 10:12

Nishant Shah

2,022
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this command only helped me – manishsingh2061 Mar 17 '22 at 21:54

score 1 · Answer 21 · answered Jan 23 '19 at 13:36

1

I came across the same error. The reason is that new angular cli update makes angular-cli.json redundant, and it is replaced with angular.json instead. My previous Angular Cli version is 1.7.4, so to make the change, I ran the following command, it will make the conversion for you:

ng update @angular/cli --migrate-only --from=1.7.4

answered Jan 23 '19 at 13:36

Vinayak Savale

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Unknown option: '--target' npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE – Sohail Feb 14 '19 at 20:44

score 1 · Answer 22 · answered Feb 15 '19 at 05:41

I faced the same issue when,

I had created new angular project using old angular-cli version (1.4.7) I then updated angular-cli using below commands (DO NOT DO THE BELOW TO UPDATE CLI)

npm uninstall -g @angular/cli
npm cache clean --force
npm install -g @angular/cli@latest

Now when I tried ng serve, i was getting same error like you

Angular Cli Error: The serve command requires to be run in an Angular project, but a project definition could not be found

DO BELOW TO UPDATE CLI

ng update @angular/cli --migrate-only --from=1.4.7

score 1 · Answer 23 · answered Mar 13 '19 at 10:22

1

In my case, I forgot to change my directory, so just after running the command :

ng new AngularProject

execute another command :

cd AngularProject

and ng serve worked for me.

answered Mar 13 '19 at 10:22

Usman Khalid

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9
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score 1 · Answer 24 · edited May 02 '19 at 13:11

1

As Usman said, i had a lot of trouble first time, I was following a tutorial. I had not set my directory to the project directory hence got this error.

I solved the issue by

Setting the correct root directory to where my project was cd myproject
Compile the app - ng serve

That was it.

edited May 02 '19 at 13:11

kk.

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answered May 02 '19 at 12:08

Maxwell Fundi

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score 1 · Answer 25 · answered Jul 05 '19 at 05:49

This happens because we are hitting ng serve command in some other path.This can be solved by hitting ng serve or npm start command on the path where exactly the our project resides(take path until the folder which contains src,node_modules,etc.)

F:\project\AngularDemo\AngularDemoapp> ng serve

score 1 · Answer 26 · answered Nov 25 '19 at 17:47

1

I would suggest to confirm if you are in the directory of the project.

answered Nov 25 '19 at 17:47

RPDF

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score 1 · Answer 27 · answered Jan 16 '20 at 16:07

I am using ionciv1, in the file ionic.config.json delete the angular type key and it worked correctly

example:

  {
  "name": "nombre",
  "integrations": {
    "cordova": {}
  },
  "type": "angular", // delete
  "gulpStartupTasks": [
    "sass",
    "templatecache",
    "ng_annotate",
    "useref",
    "watch"
  ],
  "watchPatterns": [
    "www/**/*",
    "!www/lib/**/*"
  ],
  "browsers": [
    {
      "platform": "android",
      "browser": "crosswalk",
      "version": "12.41.296.5"
    }
  ],
  "id": "0.1"
}

solved

     {
      "name": "nombre",
      "integrations": {
        "cordova": {}
      },
      "gulpStartupTasks": [
        "sass",
        "templatecache",
        "ng_annotate",
        "useref",
        "watch"
      ],
      "watchPatterns": [
        "www/**/*",
        "!www/lib/**/*"
      ],
      "browsers": [
        {
          "platform": "android",
          "browser": "crosswalk",
          "version": "12.41.296.5"
        }
      ],
      "id": "0.1"
    }

score 1 · Answer 28 · answered Sep 15 '21 at 08:47

It happened to me that I was trying to execute the ng serve command in a project created with Ruby on Rails. In other words, I had to run the rails -s command for Ruby on Rails. I got confused because Angular was built into Ruby on Rails so I had to run the rails -s command to start my project's local server and it worked without a problem.

score 1 · Answer 29 · answered Dec 15 '21 at 16:10

I also had this same error. So, i first went to root folder(folder containing angular.json file) and then

run "npm install" command(creating node modules),
then run "npm audit fix --force"
and then run "ng build",(building project)
and "ng serve"  (runnning project)

score 1 · Answer 30 · answered Mar 17 '22 at 21:49

1

this 3 commands helped me npm install --force npm audit fix --force npm start

answered Mar 17 '22 at 21:49

manishsingh2061

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score 0 · Answer 31 · answered Dec 29 '18 at 04:47

0

Also make sure if you are running ng serve that you stop it first...

answered Dec 29 '18 at 04:47

dirtyw0lf

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Pravin Pokharkar · Answer 32 · 2019-01-21T16:55:39.733

0

Solved. I was getting same issue on ubuntu 18.04.01 LTS. No above options worked as I was using NVM (Node Version manager.) Solution is
before creating project,use command
nvm use 10
(my node version was 10.15.0, so I used "nvm use 10")
It will show you output-
Now using node v10.15.0 (npm v6.4.1)
Versions will vary as per individual systems. then create new project.

edited Jan 21 '19 at 16:55

answered Jan 21 '19 at 16:43

Pravin Pokharkar

102
9

score 0 · Answer 33 · answered Feb 07 '19 at 03:57

0

You can update the angular with command 'ng update --all'. It will take time but make sure your all components are up to date.

answered Feb 07 '19 at 03:57

deepak samantaray

220
2
6

score 0 · Answer 34 · answered Mar 09 '19 at 07:27

Please check whether you are inside your project folder or not and try the command ng serve again

I got the same error since I tried ng serve command outside of my project

Example :: let's say you have a project with name "Ecommerce" traverse into the folder and try the command ng serve open terminal cd Ecommerce ng serve

score 0 · Answer 35 · edited Jun 25 '19 at 13:03

0

This fixed my problem:

ng generate component nameComponent --module app.module

edited Jun 25 '19 at 13:03

cs95

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answered Jun 25 '19 at 12:56

PoussinDev

21
4

score 0 · Answer 36 · answered Nov 09 '19 at 10:31

Happened to me when didn't install angular core:

Angular CLI: 9.0.0-rc.0
Node: 11.12.0
OS: darwin x64
Angular: undefined
...

So I run

npm i @angular/core

which gave me ng -v

Angular CLI: 9.0.0-rc.0
Node: 11.12.0
OS: darwin x64
Angular: 8.2.13
... core

Then I run

ng update @angular/cli --migrate-only --from=8.2.13

removed node_modules

npm install
cd <project name>
ng serve

And it worked!

** Angular Live Development Server is listening on localhost:4200, open your browser on http://localhost:4200/ ** ℹ ｢wdm｣: Compiled successfully.

score 0 · Answer 37 · answered Feb 14 '20 at 01:58

0

I was having the same problem with VS Code, turns out that enabling detection of Angular Icons fixes the problem

answered Feb 14 '20 at 01:58

Joseph Waweru

1,680
18
14

score 0 · Answer 38 · answered Aug 02 '20 at 19:36

Even ng update --all --force doesn't work?

It might be simply when you're performing Angular upgrade from version when .angular-cli.json (for example Angular 4) has been used to one of the newer versions having angular.json. In that case you might need to delete the .angular-cli.json and replace with equivalent metadata angular.json. After that, you'll be able to perform update from one command or step-by-step.

score 0 · Answer 39 · answered Apr 09 '21 at 22:27

0

Any issue in your angular.jason file can cause this error. So if the file is missing in your directory or it has an error that can happen.

answered Apr 09 '21 at 22:27

NKZ

11
2

score 0 · Answer 40 · answered Oct 28 '21 at 12:14

0

Try --> npx ng serve

I've got this same error running ng serve and I've fixed it running npx ng serve

answered Oct 28 '21 at 12:14

Juliano Soder

9
2

score 0 · Answer 41 · answered Dec 14 '21 at 12:08

I had started off with a theme sample project base. It's angular.json

 "projects": {
    "<project name>": {
      "projectType": "application",
      "schematics": {
        "@schematics/angular:component": {
    ...

It also has

 "defaultProject": "<project name>",
  "cli": {
    "analytics": false
  }

Matching the project name with this solved my problem on Angular 13.

score 0 · Answer 42 · answered Mar 23 '22 at 11:15

0

I made a mistake of running ng server in the parent directory of the Angular application, OP got the answer but if anyone is searching the answer might want to cd into the application directory too.

answered Mar 23 '22 at 11:15

Rishabh

51
1
7

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Mar 23 '22 at 16:22
This does not really answer the question. If you have a different question, you can ask it by clicking [Ask Question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/ask). To get notified when this question gets new answers, you can [follow this question](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/345661). Once you have enough [reputation](https://stackoverflow.com/help/whats-reputation), you can also [add a bounty](https://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/set-bounties) to draw more attention to this question. - [From Review](/review/late-answers/31356476) – J.Salas Mar 25 '22 at 11:16

score 0 · Answer 43 · answered Aug 16 '22 at 12:38

0

Just go on to your project name in vs code and right click on that project name there you'll find "Open in integrated terminal" there you type --ng serve-- that how it helps me and fixed my problem as well. Which happened because of incorrect path!

answered Aug 16 '22 at 12:38

Naveen

43
6

score 0 · Answer 44 · answered Mar 07 '23 at 09:19

Issue is with your base or folder paths Open your command prompt or terminal and run ng new command to create the new Angular application.

D:\Angular Applications>ng new test-app It will create a new folder called test-app and that folder contains our Angular source code.

Now D:\Angular Applications\test-app is our Angular project root directory.

You have to navigate to project root directory and then you have to run ng serve.

D:\Angular Applications> cd test-app

D:\Angular Applications\test-app>ng serve

Its should works

score -1 · Answer 45 · answered Aug 14 '21 at 01:55

-1

it kept giving me the same errors. i tried all the commands on this page with no avail. i turned the computer off and on. it worked for me.

answered Aug 14 '21 at 01:55

Gamal Last

27
1
4

2

`i tried all the commands on this page` and then you rebooted. Which means at least one of these solutions worked, but now you don't know which one. The reboot itself isn't likely to be the sole solution. – Eric Aya Aug 14 '21 at 11:44

Angular CLI Error: The serve command requires to be run in an Angular project, but a project definition could not be found

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