Heroku does not read node version - json

Question

I have a Node project that I want to host on Heroku. I have explicitly defined node and npm versions in my package.json (located in the root directory), which looks like this:
{
"name": "*********",
"version": "0.0.0",
"private": true,
"engines": {
"node": "0.12.x",
"npm": "2.5.x"
},
"scripts": {
"start": "node ./bin/www"
},
"dependencies": {
"body-parser": "^1.13.3",
...
}
However, when I try to push the app to heroku
git push heroku master
Heroku tries to build the app, but it seems like it's not able to read the node and npm versions. Here is the response I get.
remote: -----> Installing binaries
remote: engines.node (package.json): unspecified
remote: engines.npm (package.json): unspecified (use default)
remote:
remote: Resolving node version (latest stable) via semver.io...
remote: Downloading and installing node 4.2.1...
remote: Using default npm version: 2.14.7
Why does heroku not read the node and npm version from package.json?

Answer 1

#rdegges was right that the package.json wasn't correctly committed to Heroku. So just following the Heroku instructions didn't work for me for some reason. Here is what I had to do in order to make it work.
git clone <my git project>
heroku create <app name>
#remove package.json
mv package.json tmp_package.json
git add package.json
git commit -m "removed package.json"
#re-add package.json
mv tmp_package.json package.json
git add package.json
git commit -m "re-added package.json"
git push heroku master

Answer 2

This works for me -- make sure you've actually committed these changes to Git, and pushed the repository to Heroku. You may also want to specify exact Node and NPM release numbers for your Heroku app.
While this WILL WORK with the variable releases you've got specified, it's not recommended, as small changes in releases might cause issues for you.
For reference, here are the Heroku docs on specifying a Node.js runtime as well: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/nodejs-support#node-js-runtimes

Answer 3

I added the version to the package.json as others mentioned and it worked for me. These versions were referenced from the defaults that Heroku uses during the build if none are specified:
"engines": {
"node": "14.18.3",
"npm": "6.14.15"
},
Also, I'd recommend adding this setting to your app via the CLI for more output, which really helps:
heroku config:set NPM_CONFIG_LOGLEVEL=verbose --app=<your_app_name>
👍🏼

Answer 4

In an easy way
1- check your node version, let say it is like this: "node": "17.3.0"
2- Go inside the the package.json, at the very top below name and version add this
"engines": {
"node": "17.3.0",}
3- Delete package-lock.json then reinstall it by npm install.
After 3 hours working this mechanism helped me, I wanted to share with you all :) I hope it works for you too

Answer 5

Maybe your master branch is not the branch is not updated, try merging the branch that you want to deploy into master in order to use:
git push heroku master

Answer 6

Don't give 'x' on the version
"node": "0.12.x",
"npm": "2.5.x"
write complete version.
Ex.
"node": "0.12.0",
"npm": "2.5.0"

Answer 7

I tried the other solutions, but it didn't work for me. However, by changing the name field in package.json, it worked:
From:
{
...
"name": "foo"
...
}
To:
{
...
"name": "bar"
...
}
Alternative 2:
When I had to do the same on my other computer, it didn't work, but I tried removing package.json, recreating it from scratch, and then it worked for some odd reason (file metadata?):
$ rm package.json
$ npm init

Answer 8

Make sure the lockfile is up to date
In order to update the package-lock.json, run npm install and check in the changes to the file to git.
Then, git add . && git commit -m "update pkg-lock" && git push heroku master

Answer 9

I added the node version to package.json, but it would only accept it in the format
<major version>.x
i.e.
"name": "myapp",
"version": "1.0.0",
"engine": {
"node": "16.x"
}
I got that info from the heroku docs here - no other way of specifying it worked except that 16.x.

Answer 10

In my case the issue was with package.json, it was missed up due to some manual changes, so reverting to old version of repo solved my issue.