Can't start new app due to watch error

[aurimus]

When I run npm start or yarn start on newly created app I get following error:

    Starting the development server...

    events.js:160
          throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
          ^

    Error: watch /home/aurimas/Apps/projects/iwillbe.pro/front/public ENOSPC
        at exports._errnoException (util.js:1022:11)
        at FSWatcher.start (fs.js:1306:19)
        at Object.fs.watch (fs.js:1331:11)
        at createFsWatchInstance (/home/aurimas/Apps/projects/iwillbe.pro/front/node_modules/chokidar/lib/nodefs-handler.js:37:15)
        at setFsWatchListener (/home/aurimas/Apps/projects/iwillbe.pro/front/node_modules/chokidar/lib/nodefs-handler.js:80:15)
        at FSWatcher.NodeFsHandler._watchWithNodeFs (/home/aurimas/Apps/projects/iwillbe.pro/front/node_modules/chokidar/lib/nodefs-handler.js:228:14)
        at FSWatcher.NodeFsHandler._handleDir (/home/aurimas/Apps/projects/iwillbe.pro/front/node_modules/chokidar/lib/nodefs-handler.js:407:19)
        at FSWatcher.<anonymous> (/home/aurimas/Apps/projects/iwillbe.pro/front/node_modules/chokidar/lib/nodefs-handler.js:455:19)
        at FSWatcher.<anonymous> (/home/aurimas/Apps/projects/iwillbe.pro/front/node_modules/chokidar/lib/nodefs-handler.js:460:16)
        at FSReqWrap.oncomplete (fs.js:112:15)

    npm ERR! Linux 4.10.0-22-generic
    npm ERR! argv "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "start"
    npm ERR! node v7.4.0
    npm ERR! npm  v4.0.5
    npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
    npm ERR! front@0.1.0 start: `react-scripts start`
    npm ERR! Exit status 1
    npm ERR! 
    npm ERR! Failed at the front@0.1.0 start script 'react-scripts start'.
    npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed.
    npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the front package,
    npm ERR! not with npm itself.
    npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
    npm ERR!     react-scripts start
    npm ERR! You can get information on how to open an issue for this project with:
    npm ERR!     npm bugs front
    npm ERR! Or if that isn't available, you can get their info via:
    npm ERR!     npm owner ls front
    npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

    npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
    npm ERR!     /home/aurimas/Apps/projects/iwillbe.pro/front/npm-debug.log

Npm debug reads:

	0 info it worked if it ends with ok
	1 verbose cli [ '/usr/local/bin/node', '/usr/local/bin/npm', 'start' ]
	2 info using npm@4.0.5
	3 info using node@v7.4.0
	4 verbose run-script [ 'prestart', 'start', 'poststart' ]
	5 info lifecycle front@0.1.0~prestart: front@0.1.0
	6 silly lifecycle front@0.1.0~prestart: no script for prestart, continuing
	7 info lifecycle front@0.1.0~start: front@0.1.0
	8 verbose lifecycle front@0.1.0~start: unsafe-perm in lifecycle true
	9 verbose lifecycle front@0.1.0~start: PATH: /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/node-gyp-bin:/home/aurimas/Apps/projects/iwillbe.pro/front/node_modules/.bin:/usr/local/heroku/bin:/home/aurimas/.rbenv/plugins/ruby-build/bin:/home/aurimas/.rbenv/shims:/home/aurimas/.rbenv/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin:/home/aurimas/Android/Sdk/tools:/home/aurimas/Android/Sdk/platform-tools
	10 verbose lifecycle front@0.1.0~start: CWD: /home/aurimas/Apps/projects/iwillbe.pro/front
	11 silly lifecycle front@0.1.0~start: Args: [ '-c', 'react-scripts start' ]
	12 silly lifecycle front@0.1.0~start: Returned: code: 1  signal: null
	13 info lifecycle front@0.1.0~start: Failed to exec start script
	14 verbose stack Error: front@0.1.0 start: `react-scripts start`
	14 verbose stack Exit status 1
	14 verbose stack     at EventEmitter.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/utils/lifecycle.js:279:16)
	14 verbose stack     at emitTwo (events.js:106:13)
	14 verbose stack     at EventEmitter.emit (events.js:191:7)
	14 verbose stack     at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/utils/spawn.js:40:14)
	14 verbose stack     at emitTwo (events.js:106:13)
	14 verbose stack     at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:191:7)
	14 verbose stack     at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:885:16)
	14 verbose stack     at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:226:5)
	15 verbose pkgid front@0.1.0
	16 verbose cwd /home/aurimas/Apps/projects/iwillbe.pro/front
	17 error Linux 4.10.0-22-generic
	18 error argv "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "start"
	19 error node v7.4.0
	20 error npm  v4.0.5
	21 error code ELIFECYCLE
	22 error front@0.1.0 start: `react-scripts start`
	22 error Exit status 1
	23 error Failed at the front@0.1.0 start script 'react-scripts start'.
	23 error Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed.
	23 error If you do, this is most likely a problem with the front package,
	23 error not with npm itself.
	23 error Tell the author that this fails on your system:
	23 error     react-scripts start
	23 error You can get information on how to open an issue for this project with:
	23 error     npm bugs front
	23 error Or if that isn't available, you can get their info via:
	23 error     npm owner ls front
	23 error There is likely additional logging output above.
	24 verbose exit [ 1, true ]

Environment

Ubuntu 17.04
react-scripts@1.0.7
node v7.4.0
npm 4.0.5

[heyimalex]

Try the solution in this stackoverflow answer? More explanation here.

[Timer]

You might have better luck installing watchman, brew install watchman.

[aurimus]

@Timer tried installing watchman with npm, didn't help (my os is Ubuntu, not MacOS)

@heyimalex it worked! thanks .. the second link was enough. The issue probably should stand, but I will close it as it is resolved for me personally..

[gor181]

Yah had the same problem here on Ubuntu 16.04.
Increasing the limit of inotify watchers solved it for me too.

Thanks @heyimalex.

echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

[imranariffin]

The solution by @heyimalex worked for me.

react-scripts 1.0.10
node 6.11.0
npm 4.6.1
ubuntu 16.04

[dennisja]

@heyimalex thanks the solution has worked for me too
react-scripts 1.0.17
node v8.2.0
npm 5.3.0
ubuntu 16.10

[mritzco]

Solution works, thanks.

Yet, as the actual project files are but a few why would the system need to increase the number of watches.
Is it possible to check what files are being watched to verify that node_modules, git files or other non project specific files are not watched?

[gaearon]

I think node_modules are intentionally watched because otherwise installing dependencies wouldn't trigger a rebuild.

[ThisIsMissEm]

@gaearon I just encountered this error on a project, and I'm thinking it'd be great if CRA caught the ENOSPC error and linked to the "how to fix this" instructions, because just the stack trace is a bit poor on DX — I would do a patch, but I don't have familiarity with the CRA codebase

[theSekyi]

This worked for me on linux.
echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf && sudo sysctl -p

[GrayedFox]

I second @mritzco -- we should ideally be able to blacklist certain directories from being watched. I would much rather just stop watching and rebuild after updating/changing dependencies than needlessly watch every single thing in my node_modules folder since I so rarely change dependencies while developing unless I'm on a specific "update dependencies" branch 😕

[jnanendraveer]

Thank you- @heyimalex worked for me.
Ubuntu 17.04
react-scripts@1.0.7
node v7.4.0
npm 4.0.5

[HuuDuc]

Work for me as well, OS Ubuntu

echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288 | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf && sudo sysctl -p

Thanks alot. It worked for me also