Business
Jobs
  • About Us
  • Solutions
    • Job Postings
      Post your job and receive qualified candidates in 48h.
    • Candidate Assessments
      500+ technical and psychological tests, plus anti-fraud.
    • Headhunting
      Tailor-made executive search from start to finish.
    • Payroll + EOR
      Payroll dispersal and EOR across 15+ LATAM countries.
  • Pricing
  • Jobs

0

2.2K
Views
NPM - Failed to replace env in config: ${NPM_TOKEN}

I am trying to build a react app, but when I execute the command npm -i it gives me the following error:

Error: Failed to replace env in config: ${NPM_TOKEN}
    at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/config/core.js:415:13
    at String.replace (<anonymous>)
    at envReplace (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/config/core.js:411:12)
    at parseField (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/config/core.js:389:7)
    at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/config/core.js:330:24
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at Conf.add (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/config/core.js:328:23)
    at ConfigChain.addString (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/config-chain/index.js:244:8)
    at Conf.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/config/core.js:316:10)
    at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/graceful-fs/graceful-fs.js:78:16
/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/npm.js:61
      throw new Error('npm.load() required')
      ^

Error: npm.load() required
    at Object.get (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/npm.js:61:13)
    at process.errorHandler (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/utils/error-handler.js:205:18)
    at process.emit (events.js:182:13)
    at process._fatalException (internal/bootstrap/node.js:448:27)

I am using MacOS High Sierra. I tried to set the NPM_TOKEN as an environment variable with following command:

set -x NPM_TOKEN = xyz

but it doesn't work. What is the problem?

over 4 years ago · Santiago Trujillo
3 answers
Answer question

0

First Possible Solution:

Simple Solution: rm -f ./.npmrc (Deleting a .npmrc file)

Second Possible Solution:

However if you don't want to delete the file, you can simply remove this line of code in the .npmrc file.

Line of Code: //registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN} (Remove this code)

Third Possible Solution

Worst case scenario:

  • nano ~/.bash_aliases or nano ~/.bash_profile
  • add export NPM_TOKEN="XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX"
  • CTRL + X to exit
  • Y to save
over 4 years ago · Santiago Trujillo Report

0

Actually proper solution

Update your CI deployment configuration:

npm config set '//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken' "${NPM_TOKEN}"
npm publish

Remove this line from the .npmrc file:

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}

Example build config

You can see this solution used in practice in one of my GitHub repositories: https://github.com/Jezorko/lambda-simulator/blob/master/.travis.yml

The encrypted environment variable is an NPM token.

Why the other "solutions" are mere workarounds

I've seen answers here and under this question that recommend simply removing the variable setting line or .npmrc file entirely.

Thing is, the .npmrc file might not be ignored by your VCS system and modifying it might lead to accidental pushes to your project's repository. Additionally, the file may contain other important settings.

The problem here is that .npmrc does not allow defaults when setting up environment variables. For example, if the following syntax was allowed, the issue would be non-existent:

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN:-undefined}

over 4 years ago · Santiago Trujillo Report

0

I have an easy solution to this issue. After you set your NPM_TOKEN globally into your environment then replace

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}

with

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=$NPM_TOKEN

It's worked well for me on macOS Catalina.

over 4 years ago · Santiago Trujillo Report
Answer question
Find remote jobs

Discover the new way to find a job!

Top jobs
Top job categories
Business
Post vacancy Pricing Sales
Legal
Terms and conditions Privacy policy
© 2026 PeakU Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Andres GPT
Show me some job opportunities
There's an error!