'NodeJS - TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "path" argument must be of type string. Received undefined

I have a Node/React project in my Webstorm that won't run because of this error. I had to reinstall Windows and start fresh with my development. I got the code back into the IDE, but when I start up the Node server, I am getting the following error: TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "path" argument must be of type string. Received undefined

More context for that error:

[nodemon] starting `babel-node src/node-server/index.js`
internal/validators.js:122
    throw new ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE(name, 'string', value);
    ^

TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "path" argument must be of type string. Received undefined
    at validateString (internal/validators.js:122:11)
    at Object.join (path.js:375:7)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Projects\Production-Orchestrator\src\node-server\/index.js:17:15)

I went to index.js and here is lines 1-17:

// npm run server
import dotenv from 'dotenv';
import express from 'express';
import path from 'path';
import sql from 'mssql';
import cors from 'cors';
import http from 'http';
import { setupWebSocket } from './ws/setupWebSocket.js';

const useWebSockets = true;

dotenv.config();

const dbConfig = {
    user: process.env.DB_USER,
    password: process.env.DB_PASS,
    server: path.join(process.env.DB_SERVER, process.env.DB_HOST),

I am running npm run server to start up my node server.

And here is my package.json if it helps:

{
  "name": "my-app",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "private": true,
  "description": "my app",
  "homepage": ".",
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "git+https://github.com/xxxxxxx"
  },
  "license": "UNLICENSED",
  "scripts": {
    "buildp": "env-cmd -f .env.production react-scripts build",
    "buildt": "env-cmd -f .env.test react-scripts build",
    "buildw": "webpack --config ./webpack.config.js --mode production",
    "eject": "react-scripts eject",
    "eslint-check": "eslint --print-config src/components/search/Search.js | eslint-config-prettier-check",
    "server": "nodemon --exec babel-node src/node-server/index.js",
    "start": "SET REACT_APP_WS_PORT=3001 & react-scripts start",
    "startw": "webpack-dev-server --config ./webpack.config.js --mode development --open",
    "stylelint": "stylelint **/*.scss",
    "test": "react-scripts test",
    "ws": "node --experimental-modules src/node-server/websocket.js",
    "ws2": "nodemon --exec babel-node src/node-server/websocket.js"
  },
  "browserslist": {
    "production": [
      ">0.2%",
      "not dead",
      "not op_mini all"
    ],
    "development": [
      "last 1 chrome version",
      "last 1 firefox version",
      "last 1 safari version"
    ]
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@babel/preset-react": "^7.8.0",
    "@emotion/core": "latest",
    "@fortawesome/fontawesome": "^1.1.8",
    "@fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core": "^1.2.27",
    "@fortawesome/free-regular-svg-icons": "^5.12.1",
    "@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons": "^5.12.1",
    "@fortawesome/react-fontawesome": "^0.1.8",
    "@popperjs/core": "^2.0.6",
    "@react-pdf/renderer": "^1.6.8",
    "@types/react": "^16.9.19",
    "animate.css": "^3.7.2",
    "axios": "^0.19.2",
    "babel-loader": "^8.0.6",
    "bootstrap": "^4.4.1",
    "bufferutil": "^4.0.1",
    "cors": "^2.8.5",
    "dayjs": "^1.8.20",
    "device-detector-js": "^2.2.1",
    "dotenv": "^8.2.0",
    "express": "^4.17.1",
    "express-ws": "^4.0.0",
    "file-saver": "^2.0.2",
    "javascript-time-ago": "latest",
    "jquery": "^3.4.1",
    "jsbarcode": "^3.11.0",
    "mssql": "^6.1.0",
    "popper.js": "^1.16.1",
    "print-js": "^1.0.63",
    "prop-types": "^15.7.2",
    "react": "^16.12.0",
    "react-animations": "^1.0.0",
    "react-beautiful-dnd": "^12.2.0",
    "react-beforeunload": "^2.2.1",
    "react-collapse": "^5.0.1",
    "react-confirm-alert": "^2.6.1",
    "react-custom-scrollbars": "^4.2.1",
    "react-detect-offline": "^2.4.0",
    "react-dnd": "^10.0.2",
    "react-dnd-html5-backend": "^10.0.2",
    "react-dom": "^16.12.0",
    "react-modal": "^3.11.1",
    "react-notifications-component": "^2.3.0",
    "react-popup": "^0.10.0",
    "react-radio-group": "^3.0.3",
    "react-router-dom": "^5.1.2",
    "react-scripts": "^3.4.3",
    "react-select": "^3.0.8",
    "react-spinners": "^0.8.0",
    "react-spring": "^8.0.27",
    "react-time-ago": "^5.0.7",
    "react-transition-group": "^4.3.0",
    "sort-package-json": "^1.40.0",
    "styled-components": "^4.4.1",
    "typescript": "^3.7.5",
    "utf-8-validate": "^5.0.2",
    "ws": "^7.2.5"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@babel/cli": "^7.8.4",
    "@babel/core": "^7.8.4",
    "@babel/node": "^7.10.5",
    "@babel/preset-env": "^7.8.4",
    "@welldone-software/why-did-you-render": "^4.2.5",
    "css-loader": "^3.4.2",
    "dotenv-cli": "^3.2.0",
    "env-cmd": "^10.1.0",
    "eslint": "^6.8.0",
    "eslint-config-prettier": "^6.10.0",
    "eslint-loader": "^3.0.3",
    "eslint-plugin-babel": "^5.3.0",
    "eslint-plugin-prettier": "^3.1.2",
    "file-loader": "^5.0.2",
    "html-loader": "^0.5.5",
    "html-webpack-plugin": "^3.2.0",
    "node-sass": "^4.13.1",
    "nodemon": "^2.0.4",
    "prettier": "^1.19.1",
    "react-hot-loader": "^4.12.19",
    "sass-loader": "^8.0.2",
    "stylelint": "^13.2.0",
    "stylelint-config-rational-order": "^0.1.2",
    "stylelint-config-standard": "^19.0.0",
    "stylelint-order": "^4.0.0",
    "stylelint-scss": "^3.14.2",
    "url-loader": "^3.0.0",
    "webpack": "^4.44.1",
    "webpack-cli": "^3.3.11"
  },
  "proxy": "http://localhost:3000"
}

Solution 1:^[1]

OK, I figured out the issue. I thought the error was telling me that path was undefined. When it fact it was saying the variables passed into path.join() were undefined. And that was because I forgot to add in my .env file to the root so it could grab those variables. Whoops!

Solution 2:^[2]

In my case, the issue was the missing of an env variable. I did not have SECRET. So the SECRET env variable was missing and my test was trying to access it and as a result it was returning undefined

TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "key" argument must be one of type string, TypedArray, or DataView. Received type undefined

Solution 3:^[3]

For me was the Knex configuration file had a typo. For testing I had

testing{
...

    migrations: {
        connection{
              directory: './src/db/migrations',
              tableName: 'knex_migrations',
        }    
    },
...
}

when I needed

testing{
    ...
    
    migrations: {
          directory: './src/db/migrations',
          tableName: 'knex_migrations',
    },
...
}

Solution 4:^[4]

My issue was that I added && after the env-cmd command, so that for my start script I got

"start": "env-cmd -e development && react-scripts start",

instead of

"start": "env-cmd -e development react-scripts start",

When I removed the && everything was fine.

Solution 5:^[5]

This worked for me. https://reactgo.com/typeerror-err-invalid-arg-type-react/

It says, that this error occurs when the react-scripts version is old. So, delete all your current node modules, install the latest react-scripts using: 'npm install react-scripts@latest' and then install all the other dependencies.

I did the exact same thing, it worked.

Solution 6:^[6]

I was also facing the same issue. Missing .env file. But remember it is never gonna say what is missing or not

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution	Source
Solution 1	dmikester1
Solution 2	Sulaiman Abiodun
Solution 3	Royer Adames
Solution 4	N4TT
Solution 5	Kushagra Singh
Solution 6

'NodeJS - TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "path" argument must be of type string. Received undefined

Solution 1:[1]

Solution 2:[2]

Solution 3:[3]

Solution 4:[4]

Solution 5:[5]

Solution 6:[6]