Cordova - Current working directory is not a Cordova-based project

Question

I'm using phonegap for my mobile project. My question is why I got this error when I try to search phonegap plugin using cordova CLI? I run this command in terminal to search phonegap plugin

cordova plugin search bar code

Full error message

Last login: Wed Jan 22 15:04:09 on ttys000
Mohammads-MacBook-Pro:~ mohammadnurdin$ cd /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/rmbp/apps/rmbp/iphone/native
Mohammads-MacBook-Pro:native mohammadnurdin$ cordova plugin search bar code

/usr/local/lib/node_modules/cordova/src/util.js:57
            throw new Error('Current working directory is not a Cordova-based 
                  ^
Error: Current working directory is not a Cordova-based project.
    at Object.module.exports.cdProjectRoot (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/cordova/src/util.js:57:19)
    at CLI.plugin (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/cordova/src/plugin.js:28:36)
    at new CLI (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/cordova/src/cli.js:109:30)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/cordova/bin/cordova:41:16)
    at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:497:10)
    at startup (node.js:119:16)
Mohammads-MacBook-Pro:native mohammadnurdin$

score 56 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 22 '17 at 12:25

If you are getting this error on Ionic2
This issue generally occur when we just clone / download app and try to add platform to it.

its very easy to resolve, then here are the steps-

just create a "www" directory in application root.

"./www"

can also do by this command-

mkdir www

now we can easily run following command -

ionic platform add android
or
ionic platform add ios

Hope it will help!!!

Chanuka Asanka · Answer 2 · 2019-07-15T03:58:49.040

40

Solution is to make sure there's a www/ directory inside the root directory.

mkdir www

make sure your .gitignore file doesn't include www/ directory on it.

edited Jul 15 '19 at 03:58

answered May 02 '18 at 06:26

Chanuka Asanka

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Yes, someone put `www/` into gitignore and this fixed it. – Alexander Jul 09 '18 at 06:50
A custom script that I use to deploy my app was accidentally moving the `www` directory out of the project root. This answer helped me notice the missing folder. – tyler.frankenstein Feb 07 '21 at 18:49

Jesús Carrera · Answer 3 · 2014-11-13T10:36:21.397

Yes, as QuickFix said, you need to be in a Cordova project before being able to use most of cordova Commands. If you are curious about what defines a Cordova project, this is what I found:

Has a .cordova directory, with a config.json inside.
Has a www directory, with a config.xml inside.
Has a platforms directory.

With that in place you can use Cordoba commands without problem. If you need examples of those config files just run cordova create myapp.

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 21 '20 at 08:43

7

Happened to me also, probably from npm/node updates.

Worked for me the following:

npm install -g cordova

ionic cordova platform list

answered Jan 21 '20 at 08:43

Sorin Veștemean

1,085
10
13

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 22 '14 at 09:03

4

You have to be in a project before you launch cordova plugin search bar code.

answered Jan 22 '14 at 09:03

QuickFix

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how to that? can u give me a scenario? – Mohammad Nurdin Jan 22 '14 at 09:16

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 31 '18 at 11:28

1

Create www folder on root directory. If still it's a issue check ionic info and try to upgrade

answered Jan 31 '18 at 11:28

user3302142

11
1
3

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Sep 29 '18 at 14:01

1

run ionic serve
It will create www folder
Then run cordova prepare

edited Sep 29 '18 at 14:01

Mickael Maison

18,458
7
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answered Sep 29 '18 at 13:18

deepak ranjan

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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Nov 06 '19 at 19:54

I also had the same problem. i had an angular project. then created a cordova app inside called mobile

cordova create mobile

Then i tried to run

cordova platform add android

Which gave me the same error 'Current working directory is not a Cordova-based project'.

Solution : i have to go to the mobile folder ( from the command prompt cd mobile ) then i had to run the command there. Also there had to be a www folder in that mobile folder

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 29 '18 at 16:21

Did you come here because your Azure DevOps (fka VSO/VSTS) Cordova build pipe task failed with "Current working directory is not a Cordova-based project"?

Resolved by creating the required (and missing) folder 'www\', with a powershell having script:

New-Item -ItemType directory -Path www\

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Mar 03 '19 at 13:31

Once you create a new project using the create command,you need to change the directory to the newly create project where you are going to build your app.

eg. E:\Andriod\myapp>cordova create newapp Creating a new cordova project.

E:\Andriod\myapp>cordova build Current working directory is not a Cordova-based project.

E:\Andriod\myapp>cd newapp

E:\Andriod\myapp\newapp>cordova build

it will be working at this point

Chamin Thilakarathne · Answer 11 · 2019-10-25T05:30:39.263

0

ionic integrations enable --add

then run the

ionic build

it will add all the necessary files

edited Oct 25 '19 at 05:30

answered Oct 25 '19 at 05:25

Chamin Thilakarathne

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score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Apr 23 '20 at 08:09

0

This may be silly but in my case it was the config.xml file.

I usually create it dynamically using a script, therefor it wasn't there after I cloned the repo. Ran the script to re-create it and everything worked again.

answered Apr 23 '20 at 08:09

Alon Bar

363
10
9

score -1 · Answer 13 · answered Feb 07 '14 at 10:29

-1

I cannot explain the source of the error, but in case you are looking for a solution, you might want to try plugman instead.

answered Feb 07 '14 at 10:29

jjd

1,749
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score -3 · Answer 14 · edited Aug 20 '17 at 08:10

-3

you have to be in the current project in command prompt(example project name is myapp).

example screen shot

edited Aug 20 '17 at 08:10

Jérémie B

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answered Aug 20 '17 at 07:29

Srinivasarao Sanneganti

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Cordova - Current working directory is not a Cordova-based project

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