workspace file ('angular.json') could not be found

Question

I'm trying to run my angular application with ng serve but get this error:

Local workspace file ('angular.json') could not be found.
Error: Local workspace file ('angular.json') could not be found.
    at WorkspaceLoader._getProjectWorkspaceFilePath (C:\Users\Roy\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@angular\cli\models\workspace-loader.js:38:19)
    at WorkspaceLoader.loadWorkspace (C:\Users\Roy\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@angular\cli\models\workspace-loader.js:25:21)
    at ServeCommand._loadWorkspaceAndArchitect (C:\Users\Roy\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@angular\cli\models\architect-command.js:181:32)
    at ServeCommand.<anonymous> (C:\Users\Roy\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@angular\cli\models\architect-command.js:48:25)
    at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
    at C:\Users\Roy\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@angular\cli\models\architect-command.js:7:71
    at new Promise (<anonymous>)
    at __awaiter (C:\Users\Roy\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@angular\cli\models\architect-command.js:3:12)
    at ServeCommand.initialize (C:\Users\Roy\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@angular\cli\models\architect-command.js:47:16)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\Roy\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@angular\cli\models\command-runner.js:83:23)

i followed the suggestions given on this question Error: Local workspace file ('angular.json') could not be found - without any luck.

when i run ng -v on a global scope

 C:\Users\Roy>ng -v

     _                      _                 ____ _     ___
    / \   _ __   __ _ _   _| | __ _ _ __     / ___| |   |_ _|
   / △ \ | '_ \ / _` | | | | |/ _` | '__|   | |   | |    | |
  / ___ \| | | | (_| | |_| | | (_| | |      | |___| |___ | |
 /_/   \_\_| |_|\__, |\__,_|_|\__,_|_|       \____|_____|___|
                |___/


Angular CLI: 6.1.0-beta.2
Node: 8.11.2
OS: win32 x64
Angular:
...

Package                      Version
------------------------------------------------------
@angular-devkit/architect    0.7.0-beta.2
@angular-devkit/core         0.7.0-beta.2
@angular-devkit/schematics   0.7.0-beta.2
@schematics/angular          0.7.0-beta.2
@schematics/update           0.7.0-beta.2
rxjs                         6.2.0
typescript                   2.7.2

when i run it in the project folder :

ng -v

     _                      _                 ____ _     ___
    / \   _ __   __ _ _   _| | __ _ _ __     / ___| |   |_ _|
   / △ \ | '_ \ / _` | | | | |/ _` | '__|   | |   | |    | |
  / ___ \| | | | (_| | |_| | | (_| | |      | |___| |___ | |
 /_/   \_\_| |_|\__, |\__,_|_|\__,_|_|       \____|_____|___|
                |___/


Angular CLI: 6.1.0-beta.2
Node: 8.11.2
OS: win32 x64
Angular: 5.2.9
... animations, common, compiler, compiler-cli, core, forms
... http, language-service, platform-browser
... platform-browser-dynamic, platform-server, router

Package                      Version
------------------------------------------------------
@angular-devkit/architect    0.7.0-beta.2 (cli-only)
@angular-devkit/core         0.7.0-beta.2 (cli-only)
@angular-devkit/schematics   0.7.0-beta.2 (cli-only)
@angular/cdk                 5.2.4
@angular/cli                 <error>
@angular/material            5.2.4
@schematics/angular          0.7.0-beta.2 (cli-only)
@schematics/update           0.7.0-beta.2 (cli-only)
rxjs                         5.5.7
typescript                   2.4.2

when running npm install on the project folder i get this error :

npm install
npm ERR! code ECONNRESET
npm ERR! errno ECONNRESET
npm ERR! network request to http://172.23.4.20:4873/@angular%2fcli failed, reason: read ECONNRESET
npm ERR! network This is a problem related to network connectivity.
npm ERR! network In most cases you are behind a proxy or have bad network settings.
npm ERR! network
npm ERR! network If you are behind a proxy, please make sure that the
npm ERR! network 'proxy' config is set properly.  See: 'npm help config'

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\Roy\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2018-06-11T09_24_47_695Z-debug.log

Answer 1

I ran "npm install," my project got all of the modules and it ran.

Answer 2

This is because you have install angular in some directory and trying to use ng serve without creating your new project set-up
Generating and serving an Angular project via a development server ng new PROJECT-NAME cd PROJECT-NAME ng serve https://www.npmjs.com/package/@angular/cli#generating-and-serving-an-angular-project-via-a-development-server

Answer 3

I was facing this issue today. There were nothing wrong in my case, but just a silly mistake. I was running my command ng serve and other angular cli commands outside of my app directory(which contains the node_modules. So, after move to that directory using cd m4moviesapp, and then run ng serve everything was working as expected.

Directory

Before

After

Answer 4

I figured it out, I'm working in a git environment and someone pushed an npmrc file with settings that only allow downloading from our internal server, that's why every time I ran npm install i got an error trying to download the angular-cli.