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  "description": "Why you may be seeing `Failed to replace env in config: ${NPM_TOKEN}` if you don't have an `NPM_TOKEN` set.",
  "path": "/posts/2026/05/05/yarn-npm-token/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-05T15:10:31.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.jvt.me",
  "tags": [
    "blogumentation",
    "javascript",
    "this is a long-standing issue"
  ],
  "textContent": "Earlier today I was working with a Yarn codebase for the first time on one of my machines, and I hit an awkward error I'd not seen before:\n\n\n    % yarn install\n    yarn install v1.22.22\n    error Error: Failed to replace env in config: ${NPM_TOKEN}\n        at /usr/lib/node_modules/yarn/lib/util/env-replace.js:19:13\n        at String.replace (<anonymous>)\n        at envReplace (/usr/lib/node_modules/yarn/lib/util/env-replace.js:14:16)\n        at NpmRegistry.normalizeConfig (/usr/lib/node_modules/yarn/lib/registries/npm-registry.js:423:69)\n        at /usr/lib/node_modules/yarn/lib/registries/npm-registry.js:455:36\n        at Generator.next (<anonymous>)\n        at step (/usr/lib/node_modules/yarn/node_modules/babel-runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:17:30)\n        at /usr/lib/node_modules/yarn/node_modules/babel-runtime/helpers/asyncToGenerator.js:28:13\n    info Visit https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/cli/install for documentation about this command.\n\n\nA quick search online showed that this is a long-standing issue and can be fixed by exporting an empty `NPM_TOKEN` environment variable:\n\n\n    % export NPM_TOKEN=\n    % yarn install\n    yarn install v1.22.22\n    ...\n    success Saved lockfile.\n    Done in 13.89s.\n",
  "title": "Gotcha: Yarn may need an empty NPM_TOKEN set to run",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-05T15:10:31.000Z"
}