[BUG] since npm 11.2.0 update, npx fails to run http-server

[getify]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

I have used npx http-server ./ -p 8080 as a command probably a zillion times, never had a problem.

I just recently updated npm to 11.2.0, and now that command is failing. I've tried clearing the _npx cache and re-installing. Installation of the package and its dependencies works, but then npx refuses to execute, complaining about a missing package.json in its cache.

http-server hasn't changed at all, no new published versions in 3 years, so this is a breakage/breaking change in npm.

Expected Behavior

I expect to be able to run npx http-server ./ -p 8080 and it just work the way it has for years.

Steps To Reproduce

npx http-server ./ -p 8080 now reports this:

Need to install the following packages:
http-server@14.1.1
Ok to proceed? (y) y

npm error code ENOENT
npm error syscall open
npm error path /home/getify/.npm/_npx/e5196fa6dc3cecbc/package.json
npm error errno -2
npm error enoent Could not read package.json: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/getify/.npm/_npx/e5196fa6dc3cecbc/package.json'
npm error enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm error enoent
npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /home/getify/.npm/_logs/2025-03-07T16_48_34_953Z-debug-0.log

And that long error log file includes this:

0 verbose cli /usr/local/bin/node /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js
1 info using npm@11.2.0
2 info using node@v22.14.0
3 silly config load:file:/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/npmrc
4 silly config load:file:/home/getify/tmp/.npmrc
5 silly config load:file:/home/getify/.npmrc
6 silly config load:file:/usr/local/etc/npmrc
7 verbose title npm exec http-server ./ -p 8080
8 verbose argv "exec" "--" "http-server" "./" "-p" "8080"
9 verbose logfile logs-max:10 dir:/home/getify/.npm/_logs/2025-03-07T16_48_34_953Z-
10 verbose logfile /home/getify/.npm/_logs/2025-03-07T16_48_34_953Z-debug-0.log
11 silly logfile start cleaning logs, removing 1 files
12 silly packumentCache heap:2105278464 maxSize:526319616 maxEntrySize:263159808
13 silly logfile done cleaning log files
14 http fetch GET 200 https://registry.npmjs.org/http-server 160ms (cache updated)
15 silly packumentCache heap:2105278464 maxSize:526319616 maxEntrySize:263159808
16 silly packumentCache heap:2105278464 maxSize:526319616 maxEntrySize:263159808
17 silly idealTree buildDeps
18 silly fetch manifest http-server@14.1.1
19 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/http-server cache-miss
20 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/http-server 15ms (cache hit)
21 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/http-server set size:133786 disposed:false
22 silly placeDep ROOT http-server@14.1.1 OK for:  want: 14.1.1
23 silly fetch manifest he@^1.2.0
24 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/he cache-miss
25 silly fetch manifest mime@^1.6.0
26 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/mime cache-miss
27 silly fetch manifest chalk@^4.1.2
28 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/chalk cache-miss
29 silly fetch manifest union@~0.5.0
30 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/union cache-miss
31 silly fetch manifest corser@^2.0.1
32 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/corser cache-miss
33 silly fetch manifest opener@^1.5.1
34 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/opener cache-miss
35 silly fetch manifest minimist@^1.2.6
36 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/minimist cache-miss
37 silly fetch manifest url-join@^4.0.1
38 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/url-join cache-miss
39 silly fetch manifest basic-auth@^2.0.1
40 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/basic-auth cache-miss
41 silly fetch manifest http-proxy@^1.18.1
42 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/http-proxy cache-miss
43 silly fetch manifest portfinder@^1.0.28
44 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/portfinder cache-miss
45 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/chalk 19ms (cache hit)
46 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/chalk set size:122561 disposed:false
47 silly fetch manifest secure-compare@3.0.1
48 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/secure-compare cache-miss
49 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/url-join 20ms (cache hit)
50 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/url-join set size:22958 disposed:false
51 silly fetch manifest html-encoding-sniffer@^3.0.0
52 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/html-encoding-sniffer cache-miss
53 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/http-proxy 21ms (cache hit)
54 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/http-proxy set size:183156 disposed:false
55 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/basic-auth 23ms (cache hit)
56 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/basic-auth set size:21697 disposed:false
57 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/he 25ms (cache hit)
58 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/he set size:58773 disposed:false
59 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/mime 26ms (cache hit)
60 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/mime set size:114268 disposed:false
61 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/opener 27ms (cache hit)
62 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/opener set size:21206 disposed:false
63 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/union 29ms (cache hit)
64 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/union set size:49652 disposed:false
65 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/portfinder 28ms (cache hit)
66 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/portfinder set size:84500 disposed:false
67 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/minimist 30ms (cache hit)
68 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/minimist set size:77097 disposed:false
69 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/corser 33ms (cache hit)
70 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/corser set size:22714 disposed:false
71 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/secure-compare 16ms (cache hit)
72 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/secure-compare set size:3978 disposed:false
73 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/html-encoding-sniffer 16ms (cache hit)
74 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/html-encoding-sniffer set size:18552 disposed:false
75 silly placeDep ROOT basic-auth@2.0.1 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: ^2.0.1
76 silly placeDep ROOT chalk@4.1.2 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: ^4.1.2
77 silly placeDep ROOT corser@2.0.1 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: ^2.0.1
78 silly placeDep ROOT he@1.2.0 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: ^1.2.0
79 silly placeDep ROOT html-encoding-sniffer@3.0.0 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: ^3.0.0
80 silly placeDep ROOT http-proxy@1.18.1 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: ^1.18.1
81 silly placeDep ROOT mime@1.6.0 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: ^1.6.0
82 silly placeDep ROOT minimist@1.2.8 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: ^1.2.6
83 silly placeDep ROOT opener@1.5.2 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: ^1.5.1
84 silly placeDep ROOT portfinder@1.0.33 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: ^1.0.28
85 silly placeDep ROOT secure-compare@3.0.1 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: 3.0.1
86 silly placeDep ROOT union@0.5.0 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: ~0.5.0
87 silly placeDep ROOT url-join@4.0.1 OK for: http-server@14.1.1 want: ^4.0.1
88 silly fetch manifest safe-buffer@5.1.2
89 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/safe-buffer cache-miss
90 silly fetch manifest ansi-styles@^4.1.0
91 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/ansi-styles cache-miss
92 silly fetch manifest supports-color@^7.1.0
93 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/supports-color cache-miss
94 silly fetch manifest whatwg-encoding@^2.0.0
95 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/whatwg-encoding cache-miss
96 silly fetch manifest eventemitter3@^4.0.0
97 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/eventemitter3 cache-miss
98 silly fetch manifest requires-port@^1.0.0
99 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/requires-port cache-miss
100 silly fetch manifest follow-redirects@^1.0.0
101 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/follow-redirects cache-miss
102 silly fetch manifest async@^2.6.4
103 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/async cache-miss
104 silly fetch manifest debug@^3.2.7
105 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/debug cache-miss
106 silly fetch manifest mkdirp@^0.5.6
107 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/mkdirp cache-miss
108 silly fetch manifest qs@^6.4.0
109 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/qs cache-miss
110 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/requires-port 18ms (cache hit)
111 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/requires-port set size:8110 disposed:false
112 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/ansi-styles 18ms (cache hit)
113 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/ansi-styles set size:66356 disposed:false
114 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/async 19ms (cache hit)
115 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/async set size:230496 disposed:false
116 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/eventemitter3 23ms (cache hit)
117 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/eventemitter3 set size:86060 disposed:false
118 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/safe-buffer 24ms (cache hit)
119 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/safe-buffer set size:41183 disposed:false
120 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/qs 24ms (cache hit)
121 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/qs set size:264677 disposed:false
122 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/supports-color 28ms (cache hit)
123 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/supports-color set size:115466 disposed:false
124 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/follow-redirects 28ms (cache hit)
125 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/follow-redirects set size:182478 disposed:false
126 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/whatwg-encoding 30ms (cache hit)
127 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/whatwg-encoding set size:24764 disposed:false
128 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/debug 30ms (cache hit)
129 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/debug set size:191220 disposed:false
130 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/mkdirp 32ms (cache hit)
131 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/mkdirp set size:116455 disposed:false
132 silly placeDep ROOT safe-buffer@5.1.2 OK for: basic-auth@2.0.1 want: 5.1.2
133 silly placeDep ROOT ansi-styles@4.3.0 OK for: chalk@4.1.2 want: ^4.1.0
134 silly placeDep ROOT supports-color@7.2.0 OK for: chalk@4.1.2 want: ^7.1.0
135 silly fetch manifest color-convert@^2.0.1
136 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/color-convert cache-miss
137 silly fetch manifest has-flag@^4.0.0
138 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/has-flag cache-miss
139 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/has-flag 5ms (cache hit)
140 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/has-flag set size:15180 disposed:false
141 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/color-convert 7ms (cache hit)
142 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/color-convert set size:66477 disposed:false
143 silly placeDep ROOT color-convert@2.0.1 OK for: ansi-styles@4.3.0 want: ^2.0.1
144 silly fetch manifest color-name@~1.1.4
145 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/color-name cache-miss
146 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/color-name 6ms (cache hit)
147 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/color-name set size:16325 disposed:false
148 silly placeDep ROOT color-name@1.1.4 OK for: color-convert@2.0.1 want: ~1.1.4
149 silly placeDep ROOT whatwg-encoding@2.0.0 OK for: html-encoding-sniffer@3.0.0 want: ^2.0.0
150 silly fetch manifest iconv-lite@0.6.3
151 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/iconv-lite cache-miss
152 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/iconv-lite 3ms (cache hit)
153 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/iconv-lite set size:115994 disposed:false
154 silly placeDep ROOT eventemitter3@4.0.7 OK for: http-proxy@1.18.1 want: ^4.0.0
155 silly placeDep ROOT follow-redirects@1.15.9 OK for: http-proxy@1.18.1 want: ^1.0.0
156 silly placeDep ROOT requires-port@1.0.0 OK for: http-proxy@1.18.1 want: ^1.0.0
157 silly placeDep ROOT async@2.6.4 OK for: portfinder@1.0.33 want: ^2.6.4
158 silly placeDep ROOT debug@3.2.7 OK for: portfinder@1.0.33 want: ^3.2.7
159 silly placeDep ROOT mkdirp@0.5.6 OK for: portfinder@1.0.33 want: ^0.5.6
160 silly fetch manifest lodash@^4.17.14
161 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/lodash cache-miss
162 silly fetch manifest ms@^2.1.1
163 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/ms cache-miss
164 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/lodash 6ms (cache hit)
165 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/lodash set size:242370 disposed:false
166 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/ms 8ms (cache hit)
167 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/ms set size:84883 disposed:false
168 silly placeDep ROOT lodash@4.17.21 OK for: async@2.6.4 want: ^4.17.14
169 silly placeDep ROOT ms@2.1.3 OK for: debug@3.2.7 want: ^2.1.1
170 silly placeDep ROOT has-flag@4.0.0 OK for: supports-color@7.2.0 want: ^4.0.0
171 silly placeDep ROOT qs@6.14.0 OK for: union@0.5.0 want: ^6.4.0
172 silly fetch manifest side-channel@^1.1.0
173 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/side-channel cache-miss
174 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/side-channel 5ms (cache hit)
175 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/side-channel set size:24660 disposed:false
176 silly placeDep ROOT side-channel@1.1.0 OK for: qs@6.14.0 want: ^1.1.0
177 silly fetch manifest es-errors@^1.3.0
178 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/es-errors cache-miss
179 silly fetch manifest object-inspect@^1.13.3
180 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/object-inspect cache-miss
181 silly fetch manifest side-channel-list@^1.0.0
182 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/side-channel-list cache-miss
183 silly fetch manifest side-channel-map@^1.0.1
184 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/side-channel-map cache-miss
185 silly fetch manifest side-channel-weakmap@^1.0.2
186 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/side-channel-weakmap cache-miss
187 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/side-channel-list 6ms (cache hit)
188 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/side-channel-list set size:6005 disposed:false
189 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/side-channel-weakmap 7ms (cache hit)
190 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/side-channel-weakmap set size:12620 disposed:false
191 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/es-errors 9ms (cache hit)
192 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/es-errors set size:16918 disposed:false
193 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/side-channel-map 8ms (cache hit)
194 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/side-channel-map set size:9126 disposed:false
195 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/object-inspect 9ms (cache hit)
196 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/object-inspect set size:101912 disposed:false
197 silly placeDep ROOT es-errors@1.3.0 OK for: side-channel@1.1.0 want: ^1.3.0
198 silly placeDep ROOT object-inspect@1.13.4 OK for: side-channel@1.1.0 want: ^1.13.3
199 silly placeDep ROOT side-channel-list@1.0.0 OK for: side-channel@1.1.0 want: ^1.0.0
200 silly placeDep ROOT side-channel-map@1.0.1 OK for: side-channel@1.1.0 want: ^1.0.1
201 silly placeDep ROOT side-channel-weakmap@1.0.2 OK for: side-channel@1.1.0 want: ^1.0.2
202 silly fetch manifest call-bound@^1.0.2
203 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bound cache-miss
204 silly fetch manifest get-intrinsic@^1.2.5
205 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/get-intrinsic cache-miss
206 silly fetch manifest call-bound@^1.0.2
207 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bound cache-miss
208 silly fetch manifest get-intrinsic@^1.2.5
209 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/get-intrinsic cache-miss
210 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bound 6ms (cache hit)
211 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bound set size:15317 disposed:false
212 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bound 8ms (cache hit)
213 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bound set size:15317 disposed:false
214 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bound dispose
215 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/get-intrinsic 8ms (cache hit)
216 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/get-intrinsic set size:57687 disposed:false
217 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/get-intrinsic 8ms (cache hit)
218 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/get-intrinsic set size:57687 disposed:false
219 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/get-intrinsic dispose
220 silly placeDep ROOT call-bound@1.0.4 OK for: side-channel-map@1.0.1 want: ^1.0.2
221 silly placeDep ROOT get-intrinsic@1.3.0 OK for: side-channel-map@1.0.1 want: ^1.2.5
222 silly fetch manifest call-bind-apply-helpers@^1.0.2
223 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bind-apply-helpers cache-miss
224 silly fetch manifest get-intrinsic@^1.3.0
225 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/get-intrinsic cache-hit
226 silly fetch manifest call-bind-apply-helpers@^1.0.2
227 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bind-apply-helpers cache-miss
228 silly fetch manifest es-define-property@^1.0.1
229 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/es-define-property cache-miss
230 silly fetch manifest es-object-atoms@^1.1.1
231 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/es-object-atoms cache-miss
232 silly fetch manifest function-bind@^1.1.2
233 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/function-bind cache-miss
234 silly fetch manifest get-proto@^1.0.1
235 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/get-proto cache-miss
236 silly fetch manifest gopd@^1.2.0
237 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/gopd cache-miss
238 silly fetch manifest has-symbols@^1.1.0
239 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/has-symbols cache-miss
240 silly fetch manifest hasown@^2.0.2
241 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/hasown cache-miss
242 silly fetch manifest math-intrinsics@^1.1.0
243 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/math-intrinsics cache-miss
244 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bind-apply-helpers 15ms (cache hit)
245 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bind-apply-helpers set size:12744 disposed:false
246 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/es-define-property 16ms (cache hit)
247 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/es-define-property set size:8542 disposed:false
248 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/es-object-atoms 16ms (cache hit)
249 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/es-object-atoms set size:15304 disposed:false
250 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bind-apply-helpers 18ms (cache hit)
251 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bind-apply-helpers set size:12744 disposed:false
252 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/call-bind-apply-helpers dispose
253 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/get-proto 17ms (cache hit)
254 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/get-proto set size:8300 disposed:false
255 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/function-bind 18ms (cache hit)
256 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/function-bind set size:15733 disposed:false
257 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/math-intrinsics 18ms (cache hit)
258 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/math-intrinsics set size:9265 disposed:false
259 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/gopd 19ms (cache hit)
260 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/gopd set size:11458 disposed:false
261 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/has-symbols 19ms (cache hit)
262 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/has-symbols set size:21550 disposed:false
263 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/hasown 20ms (cache hit)
264 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/hasown set size:12476 disposed:false
265 silly placeDep ROOT call-bind-apply-helpers@1.0.2 OK for: call-bound@1.0.4 want: ^1.0.2
266 silly placeDep ROOT function-bind@1.1.2 OK for: call-bind-apply-helpers@1.0.2 want: ^1.1.2
267 silly placeDep ROOT es-define-property@1.0.1 OK for: get-intrinsic@1.3.0 want: ^1.0.1
268 silly placeDep ROOT es-object-atoms@1.1.1 OK for: get-intrinsic@1.3.0 want: ^1.1.1
269 silly placeDep ROOT get-proto@1.0.1 OK for: get-intrinsic@1.3.0 want: ^1.0.1
270 silly placeDep ROOT gopd@1.2.0 OK for: get-intrinsic@1.3.0 want: ^1.2.0
271 silly placeDep ROOT has-symbols@1.1.0 OK for: get-intrinsic@1.3.0 want: ^1.1.0
272 silly placeDep ROOT hasown@2.0.2 OK for: get-intrinsic@1.3.0 want: ^2.0.2
273 silly placeDep ROOT math-intrinsics@1.1.0 OK for: get-intrinsic@1.3.0 want: ^1.1.0
274 silly fetch manifest dunder-proto@^1.0.1
275 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/dunder-proto cache-miss
276 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/dunder-proto 2ms (cache hit)
277 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/dunder-proto set size:8256 disposed:false
278 silly placeDep ROOT dunder-proto@1.0.1 OK for: get-proto@1.0.1 want: ^1.0.1
279 silly placeDep ROOT iconv-lite@0.6.3 OK for: whatwg-encoding@2.0.0 want: 0.6.3
280 silly fetch manifest safer-buffer@>= 2.1.2 < 3.0.0
281 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/safer-buffer cache-miss
282 http cache https://registry.npmjs.org/safer-buffer 5ms (cache hit)
283 silly packumentCache full:https://registry.npmjs.org/safer-buffer set size:18521 disposed:false
284 silly placeDep ROOT safer-buffer@2.1.2 OK for: iconv-lite@0.6.3 want: >= 2.1.2 < 3.0.0
285 silly reify moves {}
286 silly audit bulk request {
286 silly audit   'http-server': [ '14.1.1' ],
286 silly audit   'basic-auth': [ '2.0.1' ],
286 silly audit   chalk: [ '4.1.2' ],
286 silly audit   corser: [ '2.0.1' ],
286 silly audit   he: [ '1.2.0' ],
286 silly audit   'html-encoding-sniffer': [ '3.0.0' ],
286 silly audit   'http-proxy': [ '1.18.1' ],
286 silly audit   mime: [ '1.6.0' ],
286 silly audit   minimist: [ '1.2.8' ],
286 silly audit   opener: [ '1.5.2' ],
286 silly audit   portfinder: [ '1.0.33' ],
286 silly audit   'secure-compare': [ '3.0.1' ],
286 silly audit   union: [ '0.5.0' ],
286 silly audit   'url-join': [ '4.0.1' ],
286 silly audit   'safe-buffer': [ '5.1.2' ],
286 silly audit   'ansi-styles': [ '4.3.0' ],
286 silly audit   'supports-color': [ '7.2.0' ],
286 silly audit   'color-convert': [ '2.0.1' ],
286 silly audit   'color-name': [ '1.1.4' ],
286 silly audit   'whatwg-encoding': [ '2.0.0' ],
286 silly audit   eventemitter3: [ '4.0.7' ],
286 silly audit   'follow-redirects': [ '1.15.9' ],
286 silly audit   'requires-port': [ '1.0.0' ],
286 silly audit   async: [ '2.6.4' ],
286 silly audit   debug: [ '3.2.7' ],
286 silly audit   mkdirp: [ '0.5.6' ],
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338 silly audit report {}
339 verbose stack Error: Could not read package.json: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/getify/.npm/_npx/e5196fa6dc3cecbc/package.json'
339 verbose stack     at async open (node:internal/fs/promises:638:25)
339 verbose stack     at async readFile (node:internal/fs/promises:1242:14)
339 verbose stack     at async read (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/package-json/lib/read-package.js:9:18)
339 verbose stack     at async PackageJson.load (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/@npmcli/package-json/lib/index.js:131:31)
339 verbose stack     at async exec (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/libnpmexec/lib/index.js:299:21)
339 verbose stack     at async Npm.exec (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/npm.js:208:9)
339 verbose stack     at async module.exports (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/cli/entry.js:67:5)
340 error code ENOENT
341 error syscall open
342 error path /home/getify/.npm/_npx/e5196fa6dc3cecbc/package.json
343 error errno -2
344 error enoent Could not read package.json: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/getify/.npm/_npx/e5196fa6dc3cecbc/package.json'
345 error enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file.
345 error enoent
346 verbose cwd /home/getify/tmp
347 verbose os Linux 5.15.167.4-microsoft-standard-WSL2
348 verbose node v22.14.0
349 verbose npm  v11.2.0
350 verbose exit -2
351 verbose code -2
352 error A complete log of this run can be found in: /home/getify/.npm/_logs/2025-03-07T16_48_34_953Z-debug-0.log

Environment

• npm: 11.2.0
• Node.js: 22.14.0
• OS Name: Windows 11 (wsl2 with debian linux)
• System Model Name:
• npm config:

; "user" config from /home/getify/.npmrc

//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken = (protected)
//registry.npmjs.org/:username = (protected)
init-license = "MIT"
package-lock = false
save = false
umask = 1

; node bin location = /usr/local/bin/node
; node version = v22.14.0
; npm local prefix = /home/getify/tmp
; npm version = 11.2.0
; cwd = /home/getify/tmp
; HOME = /home/getify
; Run `npm config ls -l` to show all defaults.```

[getify]

To be clear, I can still install http-server as a package dev-dependency and run it per project, and it runs fine... it's just trying to execute it via npx that fails all of a sudden.

[reggi]

This must be really frustrating, I replicated everything and I can't recreate it 😢

Can you try deleting that npx folder? Perhaps the cache doesn't clear it?

➜  test-8151 rm -rf ~/.npm/_npx/e5196fa6dc3cecbc
➜  test-8151 npm -v
11.2.0
➜  test-8151 node -v
v22.14.0
➜  test-8151 npx http-server ./ -p 8080         
Need to install the following packages:
http-server@14.1.1
Ok to proceed? (y) y

Starting up http-server, serving ./

http-server version: 14.1.1

http-server settings: 
CORS: disabled
Cache: 3600 seconds
Connection Timeout: 120 seconds
Directory Listings: visible
AutoIndex: visible
Serve GZIP Files: false
Serve Brotli Files: false
Default File Extension: none

Available on:
  http://127.0.0.1:8080
  http://192.168.0.39:8080
Hit CTRL-C to stop the server

[getify]

I had already cleared the npx cache as mentioned in my OP. Just did it again, same issue.

Does your ~/.npm/_npx/e5196fa6dc3cecbc folder have a package.json file in it? Mine does not.

The error message clearly says it's trying to find that file there and not finding it. Does that help us figure out where the issue might be? Like, is the problem that I should be getting that file when the package is installed by npx, or is the problem that npm is erroneously looking for that file?

[reggi]

the package.json is needed in the cache and something about your machine is causing it to not download it? if I delete it I get the same issue:

➜  test-8151 cat ~/.npm/_npx/e5196fa6dc3cecbc/package.json
{
  "dependencies": {
    "http-server": "^14.1.1"
  },
  "_npx": {
    "packages": [
      "http-server"
    ]
  }
}
➜  test-8151 rm ~/.npm/_npx/e5196fa6dc3cecbc/package.json
➜  test-8151 npx http-server ./ -p 8080                   
npm error code ENOENT
npm error syscall open
npm error path /Users/reggi/.npm/_npx/e5196fa6dc3cecbc/package.json
npm error errno -2
npm error enoent Could not read package.json: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/Users/reggi/.npm/_npx/e5196fa6dc3cecbc/package.json'
npm error enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm error enoent
npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /Users/reggi/.npm/_logs/2025-03-10T14_57_23_951Z-debug-0.log

[reggi]

i added save=false to my config and it wont run 🤔 , not sure why this is happening, save shouldn't affect the cache...

[reggi]

@getify why would you want save=false in the config? what are you trying to achieve? no package updates ever?

[getify]

I manually update my dependencies when I want to, including making the changes to the versions in package.json.

Is that somehow related to my issue?

[reggi]

Thanks for reporting this, this is an issue with npx where we need to pass along save: true to npx, overriding the user config, as it's not something exec or npx should be taking into consideration as a config entry.

[reggi]

as a workaround in the intrum installing the package http-server locally as a dep of your project will bypass the cache check, so npm i http-server --save and npx http-server ./ -p 8080 should work.

[getify]

Thanks for confirming. Yes it works as a local dependency.