Heroku error deploying app: unable to parse package.json

Question

I'm really new to Heroku and I've been trying to deploy a Hello World app with node.js.

The problem is that I have this

error: failed to push some refs to 'https://git.heroku.com/sebasaenz.git'

but I don't really know how to solve the problem. By the previous error messages, it seems to be related to the package.json file, but I tried to find in the documentation what could be the problem and I really didn't understand what could it be.

Here's the error message after entering git push heroku master

Counting objects: 6, done.
Delta compression using up to 4 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (5/5), done.
Writing objects: 100% (6/6), 920 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done.
Total 6 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
remote: Compressing source files... done.
remote: Building source:
remote: 
remote: -----> Node.js app detected
remote: parse error: Expected another key-value pair at line 14, column 3
remote:  !     Unable to parse package.json
remote: 
remote: 
remote: -----> Build failed
remote:        
remote:        We're sorry this build is failing! You can troubleshoot common issues here:
remote:        https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/troubleshooting-node-deploys
remote:        
remote:        If you're stuck, please submit a ticket so we can help:
remote:        https://help.heroku.com/
remote:        
remote:        Love,
remote:        Heroku
remote:        
remote:  !     Push rejected, failed to compile Node.js app.
remote: 
remote:  !     Push failed
remote: Verifying deploy...
remote: 
remote: !   Push rejected to sebasaenz.
remote: 
To https://git.heroku.com/sebasaenz.git
 ! [remote rejected] master -> master (pre-receive hook declined)
error: failed to push some refs to 'https://git.heroku.com/sebasaenz.git'

My package.json file is the following:

{
  "name": "hello-world",
  "version": "1.0",
  "description": "Node demo",
  "engines": {
    "node": "5.9.1"
  },
  "main": "index.js",
    "scripts": {
    "start": "node index.js"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "ejs": "2.4.1" 
  }, //this is line 14 
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "https://git.heroku.com/sebasaenz.git"
  },
  "keywords": [
    "node",
    "heroku"
  ],
  "license": "MIT"
}

I've already looked for posts with similar characterstics, but I didn't find nothing that could help me.

Answer 1

mvn clean install

then push to heroku master.

Answer 2

The only invalid bits in the JSON you've provided are the trailing commas after "ejs": "2.4.1" in your dependencies and "heroku" in your keywords array.

Answer 3

I had the same problem. Note these two lines from heroku:

remote: parse error: Expected another key-value pair at line 14, column 3
remote:  !     Unable to parse package.json

There is something wrong with your package.json file. In my case, I was missing a parenthesis to close out the file at the end. See the example below:

{
  "name": "tempdeployment",

  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "This version of __ is for temporary deployment.",
  "main": "app.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "test.js",
    "start": "node app.js"
  },
  "author": "____",
  "license": "ISC",
  "dependencies": {
    "ejs": "^2.5.7",
    "express": "^4.16.2",
    "request": "^2.83.0"
  },
  "engines": {
    "node":"^8.9.4"
  }

Notice that this JSON file is missing a closing parenthesis. Once I added the parenthesis, I had no problems deploying. In your case, it looks like you have a problem with one of your key-value pairs at line 14. Fix that, and your app should deploy without a problem.

Here is the corrected version of my package.json file:

{
  "name": "tempdeployment",

  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "This version of __ is for temporary deployment.",
  "main": "app.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "test.js",
    "start": "node app.js"
  },
  "author": "____",
  "license": "ISC",
  "dependencies": {
    "ejs": "^2.5.7",
    "express": "^4.16.2",
    "request": "^2.83.0"
  },
  "engines": {
    "node":"^8.9.4"
  }
}