Unable to get issuer cert locally

when using "npm run seed" I get get and error return "UNABLE_TO_GET_ISSUER_CERT_LOCALLY".
I am on Windows 10

seed
node -r dotenv/config ./scripts/seed.js

node:events:496
throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
^

Error: unable to get local issuer certificate
at TLSSocket.onConnectSecure (node:_tls_wrap:1674:34)
at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:518:28)
at TLSSocket._finishInit (node:_tls_wrap:1085:8)
at ssl.onhandshakedone (node:_tls_wrap:871:12)
Emitted 'error' event on WebSocket instance at:
at emitErrorAndClose (C:\Repo\Github\personal\Next-JS-Dashboard\node_modules\ws\lib\websocket.js:1016:13)
at ClientRequest. (C:\Repo\Github\personal\Next-JS-Dashboard\node_modules\ws\lib\websocket.js:864:5
at ClientRequest.emit (node:events:518:28)
at TLSSocket.socketErrorListener (node:_http_client:495:9)
at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:518:28)
at emitErrorNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:169:8)
at emitErrorCloseNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:128:3)
at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:82:21) {
code: 'UNABLE_TO_GET_ISSUER_CERT_LOCALLY'
}

Node.js v20.11.1

Start by running npm run seed and inspect scripts/seed.js, using the reported Node.js TLS error as the first diagnostic. Determine why the seed WebSocket connection cannot obtain its local issuer certificate on Windows 10; done means the seed command completes successfully without the certificate error.