Error: EMFILE: too many open files - React Native CLI

I try to run a react-native-cli project using react-native start, and the metro bundler fails, saying the following:

events.js 187
throw er; //Unhandled 'error' event

Error: EMFILE: too many open files, watch

Emitted 'error' event on NodeWatcher isntance at:
     at NodeWatcher: checkedEmitError (.../react-native-project/node_modules/sane/src/node_watcher.js:143:12)
     at FSWatcher.emit (events.js:210:5)
     at FSEvent.FSWatcher:_handle onchange (internal/fs/watchers.js:129:12) {
   errno: -24,
   syscall: 'watch',
   code : 'EMFILE',
   filename: null
)
Process terminated. Press <enter> to close the window

Just close all other files and try again. If you are running on android make sure to run cd android and ./gradlew clean before react-native run-android. If this doesn't fix, there might be problem with your file watching service. Try this

$ brew update
$ brew install watchman

I'm using a Mac and got the EMFile error. It was resolved when I installed the file watcher

brew install watchman

In my case, upgrading watchman did not help.

This problem started to happen after having updated Node.js.

Thanks to nvm, I came back to node v8.11.3 (I updated to v12.0.4) and this issue disappeared.

That might help some of you having the same problem...

I'm using a MAC and Node v12.13.1. I upgraded watchman and the issue got resolved.

watchman 4.9.0_2 -> 4.9.0_4

I had this issue after upgrading my node version. Downgrading was not an option in my case.

brew install watchman did not fix the issue, as watchman was already installed on my machine. brew upgrade watchman did the trick for me.

For my case, I think this error occurs due to node upgrade.

Delete node_modules folder and run npm install solved the issue.

TLTR: brew install watchman solved it on a Macbook.

I just got a new Macbook and was having the same issue with a React Native project. On Windows the project was working perfectly but in Mac, after a few seconds of running the project with npm start, it crashed with this error:

Error: EMFILE: too many open files, watch
    at FSEvent.FSWatcher._handle.onchange (internal/fs/watchers.js:178:28)
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! @ start: `expo start`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Failed at the @ start script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.

PS: npm install didn't work. It has to be with brew install.

I needed to install watchman with brew as others have done here, however I also needed to update the React Native Xcode build script with this line: export PATH=/opt/homebrew/bin:$PATH so xCode could find watchman in my M1 MacBook Pro.

React Native Xcode build script location: ./node_modules/react-native/scripts/react-native-xcode.sh

For me, a simple upgrade watchman didn't help, and neither did changing my Node version.

I was building on an M1 Mac using XCode 12.5 and had to:

• Install watchman on using an x86_64 instance of homebrew
• Run the metro server in a Rosetta terminal
• Run XCode without Rosetta

If this is the first time you're installing a package using the x86_64 instance of homebrew remember to add it to your PATH.

I had a bunch of these errors along with others like Could not find "Podfile.lock", etc. after installing PHP Storm.

I did the following to correct the errors based off a combination of StackOverflow searches:

1. Download, install, and agree to the XCode license
2. Install brew via the terminal window at brew.sh
3. Install node
4. Followed the instructions in the iOS terminal window in PHPStorm

Now working!

Try "brew install watchman" command,

if "brew" not install then follow below steps

Follow this steps, This is worked for me.

In my case I got this error after switching dev machines from Linux to OS X. None of the above worked for me until I ran brew upgrade watchman.

I had watchman installed via macports. However the path to watchman was unknown to to the "Bundle React Native code and images" Build Phase. Adding

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

to the beginning of the script fixed the issue for me

The following steps worked for me on MacOS:

1. Updateing/Installing Homebrew from official site https://brew.sh/
2. Installing Watchman: brew install watchman