[FIXED] Unable to create new RN 0.72 project with Node 16 again

[jonthysell]

Description

@react-native/normalize-colors@0.74.0 was just published, breaking 0.72.5 with Node 16 again. Same problem as #39692.

React Native Version

0.72.5

Output of npx react-native info

Can't create a project, so can't run info.

Steps to reproduce

npx --yes react-native@0.72.5 init testcli72 --template react-native@0.72.5

See #39692.

Snack, screenshot, or link to a repository

[github-actions]

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[Jore]

Yeah, I'm having the same issue. :(

[robhogan]

Thanks for reporting - we're about to publish an update to normalize-colors removing the Node 18 restriction, and tighten the transitive dependency via react-native-deprecated-prop-types.

Workaround

As a mitigation, you can init the project using Node 18, add a resolutions field to your package.json, and then drop back to Node 16.

nvm use 18
npx --yes react-native@0.72.5 init testcli72 --template react-native@0.72.5 --skip-install
cd testcli72

Add to your new package.json as a top-level field (docs: resolutions):

"resolutions": {
  "@react-native/normalize-colors": "^0.72.0"
},

nvm use 16
yarn install
yarn start

[huntie]

Resolved — please retry creating new React Native projects

We've just published @react-native/normalize-colors@0.74.1, which removes the Node 18 constraint and should resolve this issue.

• Please retry npx react-native init from now, and it should work.
• In existing recently created projects, you should be able to remove the "resolutions" workaround (and/or delete yarn.lock and reinstall).

We're sorry this issue happened! Thanks @robhogan for actioning changes. We're following up with a more durable fix to eliminate the "*" version specifier from the dependency tree — which will prevent future changes impacting current React Native versions.