TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "original" argument must be of type function. Received undefined during launchPackager.command after upgrading RN 0.72.4 → 0.81.0

[JAYASHREEPATIL]

Environment

Name	Version
React Native	0.81.0
Node	v18.20.8
Yarn	3.6.4
OS	macOS (sequoia 15.6.1), chip: Apple M1

Description

Current Behavior

After upgrading my React Native project from 0.72.4 to 0.81.0, the Metro packager fails to start when running the app.
It throws the following error immediately when executing the generated script:

/....../node_modules/.generated/launchPackager.command ; exit;
(node:62945) UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "original" argument must be of type function. Received undefined
    at promisify (internal/util.js:279:11)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/...../node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-clean/build/clean.js:67:39)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1185:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1205:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1034:32)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:923:14)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1074:19)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:72:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/......./node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-clean/build/index.js:7:37)

Additional warnings shown:

(node:62945) [DEP0018] DeprecationWarning: Unhandled promise rejections are deprecated.

Expected Behavior

Metro packager should start normally and the app should run as expected, without throwing unhandled promise rejection errors.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Upgrade an existing project from react-native@0.72.4 to react-native@0.81.0.
2. Install dependencies via npm install or yarn install.
3. Try running the project via:
   npx react-native start
npm run ios / android
4. Observe the crash output above.

What I’ve Tried

• Deleted node_modules, yarn.lock, and reinstalled.
• Cleared Metro and Watchman caches:
• npx react-native start --reset-cache
• watchman watch-del-all
• Verified Node version compatibility.
• Removed .generated folder and reinstalled CLI.

The error persists.

Possible Cause

The error originates from the @react-native-community/cli-clean package, likely due to an invalid promisify call around line 67 in clean.js:

const rimrafAsync = promisify(rimraf); // possibly rimraf is undefined

It seems rimraf may not be properly imported or the version mismatch (deprecated in v3 and replaced in newer Node versions) may cause it to resolve as undefined.