node.js npm local install ENOENT chmod error - node.js

Question

I am getting errors trying to run npm install on a node/react app which I am taking over development of.
I'm not trying to install any packages globally. I am on an M1 Macbook Pro running Big Sur. I did a fresh install of node and npm with Homebrew. I also tried removing the package-lock.json file, cleaning the npm cache, and adding a .npmignore file to the directory as some other posts have suggested; none of these worked.
Here is the output when I run npm install
MacBook-Pro-2 frontend % npm install
npm ERR! code ERESOLVE
npm ERR! ERESOLVE unable to resolve dependency tree
npm ERR!
npm ERR! While resolving: [my project name]-dashboard#0.1.0
npm ERR! Found: webpack#5.39.0
npm ERR! node_modules/webpack
npm ERR! webpack#"5.39.0" from the root project
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Could not resolve dependency:
npm ERR! peer webpack#"^4.0.0" from optimize-css-assets-webpack-plugin#6.0.0
npm ERR! node_modules/optimize-css-assets-webpack-plugin
npm ERR! optimize-css-assets-webpack-plugin#"6.0.0" from the root project
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Fix the upstream dependency conflict, or retry
npm ERR! this command with --force, or --legacy-peer-deps
npm ERR! to accept an incorrect (and potentially broken) dependency resolution.
npm ERR!
npm ERR! See /Users/<name>/.npm/eresolve-report.txt for a full report.
npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! /Users/<name>/.npm/_logs/2021-06-15T17_41_19_910Z-debug.log
I tried to run npm install --legacy-peer-deps, which causes a slightly different error:
MacBook-Pro-2 frontend % npm install --legacy-peer-deps
npm WARN deprecated #hapi/topo#3.1.6: This version has been deprecated and is no longer supported or maintained
npm WARN deprecated #hapi/pinpoint#1.0.2: Moved to 'npm install #sideway/pinpoint'
npm WARN deprecated har-validator#5.1.5: this library is no longer supported
npm WARN deprecated #hapi/formula#1.2.0: Moved to 'npm install #sideway/formula'
npm WARN deprecated topojson#3.0.2: Use topojson-client, topojson-server or topojson-simplify directly.
npm WARN deprecated #hapi/address#2.1.4: Moved to 'npm install #sideway/address'
npm WARN deprecated request#2.88.2: request has been deprecated, see https://github.com/request/request/issues/3142
npm WARN deprecated #hapi/hoek#8.5.1: This version has been deprecated and is no longer supported or maintained
npm WARN deprecated #hapi/joi#16.1.8: Switch to 'npm install joi'
npm ERR! code ENOENT
npm ERR! syscall chmod
npm ERR! path /Users/<name>/Developer/<directory>/frontend/node_modules/topojson/node_modules/topojson-simplify/bin/toposimplify
npm ERR! errno -2
npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, chmod '/Users/<name>/Developer/<directory>/frontend/node_modules/topojson/node_modules/topojson-simplify/bin/toposimplify'
npm ERR! enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file.
npm ERR! enoent
npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! /Users/<name>/.npm/_logs/2021-06-15T17_41_57_785Z-debug.log

Answer 1

I solved my own problem. I think this is a common error message, with many potential solutions; here are 2 things I tried that fixed the issue for me:
Make sure you have postgresql installed (if your project includes a postgresql db, like mine). On a mac with homebrew, just run brew install postgresql.
I also downgraded my version of Node.js to the most up-to-date long term support version (previously I was using the dev version). At the time of writing the LTS version was 14.7.
After making these changes, I was able to get my site to install and start correctly.