The Journey of a Thousand Errors Begins With a Single npm start
Hello, everyone! This is auroraund, and I'm excited to share my first blog post about a new app I'm building. My goal is to create a platform where diverse fragments of ideas can come together to form new innovations.
Building a new app is a journey, and like any journey, it's full of unexpected twists and turns. My first major hurdle wasn't a complex algorithm or a challenging UI design; it was a simple connection between npm start and Expo Go. This post is for everyone who's been stuck in that same frustrating loop.
The Problem: "Something went wrong"
After cloning my new repository and running npm start, the development server launched perfectly. I could even see the app in my browser at http://localhost:8081. However, scanning the QR code with my phone's Expo Go app consistently led to a dreaded "Something went wrong" error, often accompanied by an uncaught error java io IOException failed to download remote update message.
I tried everything:
- Making sure my PC and phone were on the same Wi-Fi network.
- Checking my firewall settings.
- Restarting
npm startand my devices multiple times.
Nothing worked. The connection seemed impossible.
The Solution: A Simple Command, a World of Difference
After much trial and error, the solution turned out to be remarkably simple, yet not immediately obvious for a beginner. The issue wasn't a local network problem—it was a connectivity issue that a simple command could resolve.
The trick was to install ngrok and run the server with the --tunnel option.
Step 1: Install ngrok
First, you need to install the ngrok package, which creates a secure tunnel to your local development server.
npm install @expo/ngrok
Step 2: Run the server with --tunnel
Next, instead of just running npm start, you use the --tunnel option.
npm start --tunnel
This command creates a public URL that tunnels to your local machine, allowing your phone (and anyone else with the link) to access your development server, regardless of the local network configuration.
After running this command and scanning the new QR code, the app magically appeared on my phone. The feeling of seeing my code run on a physical device for the first time was incredible.
Why This Matters
This experience taught me a valuable lesson: even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant setup issues can be the biggest roadblocks. By documenting this solution, I hope to save fellow creators and developers from the same frustration.
The core value of this project is to share knowledge and create tools that make life easier. This guide is my first step in that mission.
Thank you for reading, and happy coding!