ruvnet / ruvnet/ruflo

npx ENOTEMPTY error on macOS when running @claude-flow/cli

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Description

## Problem

Users on macOS encounter an `ENOTEMPTY` error when running npx commands:

```
npm error code ENOTEMPTY
npm error syscall rename
npm error path /Users/.../.npm/_npx/.../node_modules/@claude-flow/cli
npm error dest /Users/.../.npm/_npx/.../node_modules/@claude-flow/.cli-YMjh8UPt
npm error errno -66
npm error ENOTEMPTY: directory not empty, rename '...'
```

## Cause

This is an npm cache corruption issue, not a claude-flow bug. It occurs when:
1. npx cache becomes corrupted during interrupted installs
2. npm tries to rename directories that aren't empty
3. File system race conditions on macOS

## Solution

Clear the npx cache:

```bash
# Remove the corrupted npx cache
rm -rf ~/.npm/_npx

# Then retry
npx @claude-flow/cli@latest --help
```

## Prevention

If this happens frequently:
```bash
# Use npm cache clean
npm cache clean --force

# Or install globally instead of using npx
npm install -g @claude-flow/cli
claude-flow --help
```

## Environment
- OS: macOS
- npm version: Various
- Node version: Various

## Labels
- documentation
- not-a-bug
- user-environment

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

No repository file or test is named in the issue. Start by locating the documentation for running @claude-flow/cli with npx, then compare its macOS ENOTEMPTY troubleshooting guidance with the commands and prevention steps described here; done means the relevant documentation clearly explains cache cleanup and retry options.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
node.js
Domain
cli, documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
1/5
Estimated time
Under an hour
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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