'npm start command returns an error in the cmd

I want to start my React app, but when I run npm start, I get this error:

npm ERR! syscall open
npm ERR! path C:\Users\Muchendu\Documents\GitHub\Steve-React/package.json
npm ERR! errno -4058
npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'C:\Users\Muchendu\Documents\GitHub\Steve-React\package.json'
npm ERR! enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm ERR! enoent

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\Muchendu\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_logs\2022-05-11T09_26_37_201Z-debug-0.log
node.jsreactjsnpm


Solution 1:[1]

This could be because right after running

npx create-react-app <your_app_name>

you are trying to run npm start

Instead try switching into your app directory like so:

cd <your_app_name>

because that is where your package.json will most likely exist and then try running

npm start

Solution 2:[2]

run this command in the terminal inside your project npm init -y.
This will generate a package.json in your project.

Otherwise since you are making a react app use the npx create-react-app your-app-name this will create all the necessary files for running you application.

What is package.json?
The package.json file is the heart of any Node project. It records important metadata about a project which is required before publishing to NPM, and also defines functional attributes of a project that npm uses to install dependencies, run scripts, and identify the entry point to our package.

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 vaibav
Solution 2 ardritkrasniqi

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