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Common Create-React-App Errors

TypeError: cmd is not a function

This error typically occurs when you set up a Medusa project with create-medusa-app and try to run the Medusa backend.

To resolve this issue, make sure you change into the backend directory of the Medusa project you created before trying to start the Medusa backend:

cd backend
npx medusa develop

Errors when using VSCode or GitHub Codespaces

If you're running the Medusa backend through tools like VSCode or GitHub Codespaces, you must ensure that:

  1. Port forwarding is configured for ports 9000 and 7001. Refer to the following resources on how to configure forwarded ports:
    1. VSCode local development.
    2. VSCode remote development.
    3. GitHub Codespaces.
  2. If your tool or IDE exposes an address other than localhost, such as 127.0.0.1, make sure to add that address to the admin_cors Medusa configuration. Your tool will show you what the forwarded address is.

After setting these configurations, run your Medusa backend and try again. If you couldn't create an admin user before, run the following command in the root directory of your Medusa project to create an admin user:

npx medusa user -e admin@medusa-test.com -p supersecret

Invalid Token Error with --no-browser Option

If you use the --no-browser option with the create-medusa-app command, you'll find a URL outputted at the end of the command execution. This is the URL that you can use to set a password for your admin user.

However, if you copy the URL, then try later to access that URL, you may receive an "Invalid Token" error. This is because when you copy the URL, a lot of extra space may be added into the token. So, you must clear out the spaces within the token and the || characters, then try again.

Alternatively, you can create a new user with the medusa user command.


Can't Connect to PostgreSQL Docker Container

When connecting your Medusa backend to a PostgreSQL Docker container, make sure the 5432 port is exposed.

To do that, either pass the -p option to the docker run command. For example:

docker run -d -p 5432:5432 --name some-postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=supersecret postgres

Or, if you're using Docker Desktop, you can provide the option under the container's "Optional settings" collapsable.

Setting Port option in Docker Desktop

If you expose the PostgreSQL docker container at a port other than 5432, make sure to include it in your database URL.

When installing Medusa with create-medusa-app, you can provide a database URL with the different port using the --db-url option.

For example:

npx create-medusa-app@latest --db-url "postgres://user:password@localhost:<YOUR_PORT>/medusa-store"

Where <YOUR_PORT> is the exposed port if it's different than 5432.

Refer to the database_url configuration documentation to learn how to set the database URL for an installed Medusa backend.


Can't connect to database with --db-url option

If you use the --db-url option with the create-medusa-app command and the connection to the database fails, try the following:

  • Specifying ?sslmode=require at the end of the connection URL. Some PostgreSQL hosting providers, like Vercel, require passing this option. For example:
npx create-medusa-app@latest --db-url "postgres://default:<password><host-region>.postgres.vercel-storage.com:5432/verceldb?sslmode=require"
  • Changing the password to remove special characters. PostgreSQL requires encoding passwords if they have special characters. While the create-medusa-app command handles this automatically when you specify the password to the create-medusa-app command, when you pass a connection URL with the --db-url the command uses that URL as-is. So, you must either encode the special characters in the password yourself, or remove the special characters in the password.

Other Errors

As a last resort to resolve your issue, please try to clear your npx cache, as it could hold a cached version of create-medusa-app with errors.

Run the following command:

rm -rf "$(npm config get cache)/_npx"

Try running the create-medusa-app command again.

If your issue persists, please try to search through our GitHub issues to see if there's a solution for your issue. If not, please create an issue on GitHub and our team will help you resolve it soon."

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