Railway ignore node version value

abeshunyah

HOBBYOP

10 months ago

Issue

I cannot set the Node version that Svelte 5 needs.

I see the package.json can tell Railway what version they pick in this forum so i set:

package.json:

{
	"name": "myapp",
	"private": true,
	"version": "0.0.1",
	"type": "module",
	"engines": {
		"node": "20.19.0"
	}
}

Logs

Build fails with this log:

npm error code EBADENGINE
npm error engine Unsupported engine
npm error engine Not compatible with your version of node/npm: myapp
npm error notsup Not compatible with your version of node/npm: myapp
npm error notsup Required: {"node":"20.19.0"}
npm error notsup Actual:   {"npm":"10.8.2","node":"v20.18.1"}

Also another log after i set engines.node as "^20.18.1":

npm error code EBADENGINE
npm error engine Unsupported engine
npm error engine Not compatible with your version of node/npm: @sveltejs/vite-plugin-svelte@6.1.0
npm error notsup Not compatible with your version of node/npm: @sveltejs/vite-plugin-svelte@6.1.0
npm error notsup Required: {"node":"^20.19 || ^22.12 || >=24"}
npm error notsup Actual:   {"npm":"10.8.2","node":"v20.18.1"}

Any LLM could not solve this like 30 minutes battle...

And nothing changes if i set engines.node as "^20.19.0" or "24" or "^24" etc.. Railway always ignore these.

I know Docker works here but i am not familiar at all.

So tell me if I can without Docker.

Solved$10 Bounty

Pinned Solution

loganbek

FREE

10 months ago

Here’s how I fixed it—no Docker needed, just switch off Nixpacks and let Railpack respect the exact patch version:

Flip the builder to Railpack In your Railway project → Settings → Deployment → Builder, change from nixpacks to:

railpack

Railpack will honor your engines.node setting; Nixpacks only ever uses the major version.

2. Pin the exact Node version in package.json

At the top level of package.json, add:

{ "engines": { "node": "20.19.0" } }

(Or whatever exact patch Svelte 5 requires.)

3. Redeploy

Just hit Deploy (or push a dummy commit) and you’ll see Railpack installing Node v20.19.0 instead of falling back to v20.18.1

4 Replies

Railway

BOT

10 months ago

Hey there! We've found the following might help you get unblocked faster:

If you find the answer from one of these, please let us know by solving the thread!

abeshunyah

HOBBYOP

10 months ago

It is not resolved but Render.com follows package engines.node value and deploy successfully.

and they have mani options to do this.

like this:

https://render.com/docs/node-version

Pls Railway support this. maybe Railway reject minor version of node though i dont know why.

loganbek

FREE

10 months ago

Here’s how I fixed it—no Docker needed, just switch off Nixpacks and let Railpack respect the exact patch version:

Flip the builder to Railpack In your Railway project → Settings → Deployment → Builder, change from nixpacks to:

railpack

Railpack will honor your engines.node setting; Nixpacks only ever uses the major version.

2. Pin the exact Node version in package.json

At the top level of package.json, add:

{ "engines": { "node": "20.19.0" } }

(Or whatever exact patch Svelte 5 requires.)

3. Redeploy

Just hit Deploy (or push a dummy commit) and you’ll see Railpack installing Node v20.19.0 instead of falling back to v20.18.1

Status changed to Solved brody • 10 months ago

loganbek

Here’s how I fixed it—no Docker needed, just switch off Nixpacks and let Railpack respect the exact patch version: 1. **Flip the builder to Railpack** In your Railway project → **Settings** → **Deployment** → **Builder**, change from `nixpacks` to: ``` railpack ``` Railpack will honor your `engines.node` setting; Nixpacks only ever uses the **major** version. 2. **Pin the exact Node version in** `package.json` At the top level of `package.json`, add: ``` { "engines": { "node": "20.19.0" } } ``` (Or whatever exact patch Svelte 5 requires.) 3. **Redeploy** Just hit **Deploy** (or push a dummy commit) and you’ll see Railpack installing Node v20.19.0 instead of falling back to v20.18.1

abeshunyah

HOBBYOP

10 months ago

It worked!

I did not know Railpack and it respect the exact patch version of Node.

Thank you so much.

how-to screenshot:

https://i.imgur.com/P0QNubo.png

Status changed to Awaiting Railway Response Railway • 10 months ago

Status changed to Solved brody • 10 months ago

Welcome!