Babel command not found

Question

I have installed the babel-cli tool as explained by the Babel 'getting started' page.

From a terminal inside my project folder:

npm install --save-dev babel-cli

After this, there is a node_modules directory with a babel-cli folder, but there is no package.json created. npm also shows the following error:

npm WARN enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/Users/MyName/Sites/Tutorials/Babel2/package.json

When trying to run babel, I get this:

babel src -d lib
-bash: babel: command not found

I have the latest version of nodejs/npm installed. I have run npm update -g, and I have edited my .bash_profile file to include:

export PATH=$PATH:/Users/MyName/npm/bin
export PATH=/usr/local/share/npm/bin:$PATH

I have not experienced this with other npm tools such as browserify. Why is babel not recognized?

Answer 1

There are two problems here. First, you need a package.json file. Telling npm to install without one will throw the npm WARN enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory error. In your project directory, run npm init to generate a package.json file for the project.

Second, local binaries probably aren't found because the local ./node_modules/.bin is not in $PATH. There are some solutions in How to use package installed locally in node_modules?, but it might be easier to just wrap your babel-cli commands in npm scripts. This works because npm run adds the output of npm bin (node_modules/.bin) to the PATH provided to scripts.

Here's a stripped-down example package.json which returns the locally installed babel-cli version:

{
  "scripts": {
    "babel-version": "babel --version"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "babel-cli": "^6.6.5"
  }
}

Call the script with this command: npm run babel-version.

Putting scripts in package.json is quite useful but often overlooked. Much more in the docs: How npm handles the "scripts" field

Answer 2

When I found this question, I was looking for

$ npm install -g babel-cli

Answer 3

Installing babel globally solves this issue:

npm install -g @babel/core @babel/cli

However, it is not encourage to install dependencies globally because they won't have their versions managed on a per-project basis.

You should install your dependencies locally, as suggested on babel's documentation:

npm install --save-dev @babel/core @babel/cli

The downside is that this gives you no fast/convenient way to invoke local binaries interactively (in this case babel). npx gives you a great solution:

npx babel --version

This will run your local installation of babel. Additionally, if you want to avoid typing npx, you can configure the shell auto fallback, and then just run:

babel --version

---

Note: it is important to create a file .babelrc, at your project's root, in which you specify your babel configuration. As a starting point you can use env-preset to transpile to ES2015+:

npm install @babel/preset-env --save-dev

In order to enable the preset you have to define it in your .babelrc file, like this:

{
  "presets": ["@babel/preset-env"]
}

Answer 4

This is common issue and its looking for .cmd file from your root directory where you installed babel-cli. Try the below command.

./node_modules/.bin/babel.cmd

Once you are able to see your source code in the command prompt. Your next step is to install one more npm module babel-preset-es2015.

Follow the below answer to install babel-preset-es2015 and see why babel need this.

babel-file-is-copied-without-being-transformed

Answer 5

To install version 7+ of Babel run:

npm install -g @babel/cli
npm install -g @babel/core

Answer 6

This is what I've done to automatically add my local project node_modules/.bin path to PATH. In ~/.profile I added:

if [ -d "$PWD/node_modules/.bin" ]; then 
    PATH="$PWD/node_modules/.bin"
fi

Then reload your bash profile: source ~/.profile

Answer 7

I had the same issue. Deleted the nodemodules folder and opened command prompt as administrator and then ran npm install.

All packages installed fine.

Answer 8

Worked for me e.g.

./node_modules/.bin/babel --version
./node_modules/.bin/babel src/main.js

Answer 9

You will need to add quotes around the path to your babel file as below

"./node_modules/.bin/babel" --help

Answer 10

Actually, if you want to use cmd commands,you have two ways. First, install it at gloabl environment. The other way is npm link. so, try the first way: npm install -g babel-cli.

Answer 11

One option is to install the cli globally.

Since Babel 7 was released the namespace has changed from babel-cli to @babel/cli, hence:

npm install --global @babel/cli

You'll likely still encounter errors for @babel/core so:

npm install --global @babel/core

Answer 12

I ran into the very same problem, tried out really everything that I could think of. Not being a fan of installing anything globally, but eventually had to run npm install -g babel-cli, which solved my problem. Maybe not the answer, but definitely a possible solution...

Answer 13

For those using Yarn as their package manager instead of npm:

yarn global add babel-cli

Answer 14

This worked for me inside package.json as an npm script but it does seem to take to long grabbing the packages even though I have them as dev dependancies. It also seems too long.

"babel": "npx -p @babel/cli -p @babel/core babel --version"

What end up solving it was much simpler but funny too

npm install

I thought I ran that already but I guess somethings needed to be rebuilt. Then just:

"babel": "babel --version"