Cannot find module ‘webpack’ using webpack-dev-server

Trying to get familiar to chat apps using this tutorial.

Everything looks good, but when I try to run npm run watch according to the directions in the end, I get an error with npm, mentioning the error is not with npm.

This watch script was created to run the following script:

webpack-dev-server --compress --history-api-fallback --progress --host 0.0.0.0 --port 3005

When I try to run this line using npx, I get the following error:

Cannot find module 'webpack'
Require stack:
- /home/user/.npm/_npx/47997/lib/node_modules/webpack-dev-server/bin/webpack-dev-server.js

This is my webpack.config.js:

module.exports = {
  devtool: 'source-map',
  entry: './src/index.tsx',
  output: {
    filename: './build/client.js',
  },
  resolve: {
    extensions: ['.webpack.js', '.web.js', '.ts', '.tsx', '.js']
  },

  module: {
    loaders: [{ test: /.tsx?$/, loader: 'ts-loader' }]
  }
};

I have tried to install webpack and webpack-cli a couple of times, and it did not correct the error. Tried to delete node_modules and package-lock.json and then reinstall the modules, and nothing happened as well. Any suggestions?

Adding package.json:

{
  "name": "rcweb",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "rcweb",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo "Error: no test specified" && exit 1",
    "watch": "webpack-dev-server --compress --history-api-fallback --progress --host 0.0.0.0 --port 3005"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/react": "^17.0.3",
    "@types/react-redux": "^7.1.16",
    "react": "^17.0.1",
    "react-dom": "^17.0.1",
    "react-redux": "^7.2.2",
    "redux": "^4.0.5",
    "ts-loader": "^8.0.17",
    "typescript": "^4.2.3",
    "webpack": "^5.24.4",
    "webpack-cli": "^4.5.0",
    "webpack-dev": "^1.1.1"
  }
}

Answer

You need to install webpack-dev-server instead of webpack-dev. Update your package.json then delete your node_modules and npm install everything anew.

Also, I am not sure it is a very good idea to use react and related components as devDependencies as they’re used in runtime, but it depends on your bundle build and configuration.