Can’t find the ‘node’ binary to build the react native bundle. if you have a non-standard node.js installation, select your project in xcode, find ‘build phases’ – ‘bundle react native code and images’ and change node_binary to an absolute path to your node executable. you can find it by invoking ‘which node’ in the terminal.

The error message “can’t find the ‘node’ binary to build the react native bundle” usually occurs when the react native build process is unable to locate the Node.js executable (node binary).

The solution to this error depends on whether you have a non-standard Node.js installation or a standard one.

If you have a standard Node.js installation, you can resolve this issue by ensuring that the Node.js executable (node binary) is in your system’s PATH. To verify if Node.js is in the PATH, open Terminal (or Command Prompt) and type “which node“. This command will display the absolute path to the Node.js executable.

If the output of the “which node” command is empty or incorrect, it means Node.js is not in the PATH. In this case, you’ll need to add the correct path to the Node.js executable to your system’s PATH.

For example, if you installed Node.js using the default installer, the executable is typically located at “/usr/local/bin/node” (on macOS) or “C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe” (on Windows). You can add this path to the PATH environment variable by following these steps:

1. On macOS:

   • Open Terminal.

   • Type “nano ~/.bash_profile” and press Enter to open the bash profile in the nano editor.

   • Add the following line to the file:

     export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin
                    

   • Press Ctrl + X to exit nano, and then Y to save the changes.

   • Restart Terminal for the changes to take effect.

2. On Windows:

   • Open the Start menu and search for “Environment Variables”.

   • Click on “Edit the system environment variables”.

   • Click on “Environment Variables” at the bottom right.

   • In the “System variables” section, select the “Path” variable and click “Edit”.

   • Click “New” and add the path to the Node.js executable (e.g., “C:\Program Files\nodejs”).

   • Click OK to save the changes.

   • Restart Command Prompt for the changes to take effect.

If you have a non-standard Node.js installation, such as through a version manager like nvm, you need to manually specify the absolute path to the Node.js executable in your Xcode project settings.

To do this:

1. Open your Xcode project.

2. Select your project in the project navigator on the left.

3. Click on the target for your react native app.

4. Go to “Build Phases” tab.

5. Expand “Bundle React Native code and images”.

6. Find the line that sets the “node_binary” variable.

7. Change the value of “node_binary” to the absolute path of your Node.js executable. You can find this path by invoking “which node” in the Terminal.