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$ 

Guthrie

Answer 1

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

Canyon

how to that? can u give me a scenario? – Guthrie

Answer 2

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!!!

Tenebrae

Answer 3

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.

Saponify

Yes, someone put www/ into gitignore and this fixed it. – Belenbelesprit

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. – Kemper

Answer 4

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.

Breakfast

Answer 5

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

Worked for me the following:

npm install -g cordova

ionic cordova platform list

Cowberry

Answer 6

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

Fabulous

Answer 7

1. run ionic serve
2. It will create www folder
3. Then run cordova prepare

Disembarrass

Answer 8

ionic integrations enable --add

then run the

ionic build

it will add all the necessary files

Mozzarella

Answer 9

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

Horsefaced

Answer 10

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\

Veilleux

Answer 11

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

Romilda

Answer 12

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.

Cand

Answer 13

Use

ionic cordova build [platform]
ex. ionic cordova build android
or for ios 
ionic cordova build ios

It will automatically create the www folder path. see more commands here https://ionicframework.com/docs/cli/commands/cordova-build

[Note: Make sure you install ionic and cordova

npm install -g ionic
npm install -g cordova

Tice

Answer 14

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

Jhansi

Answer 15

THis Solution helped me: go to Root of your Project via cmd and run.

npm run build-cordova

after that just create new android platforms

cordova platform rm android cordova platform add android

Anthropomorphosis

Answer 16

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

Shalne