Storybook "command not found" - Fix in CI

By Kaveh Alemi·Latchkey

The CI shell could not find the storybook binary. Either Storybook is not installed in this job, a production-only install skipped it, or the script invokes a binary name that no longer exists.

What this error means

The step exits 127 with storybook: command not found or build-storybook: not found.

sh: 1: storybook: command not found
npm ERR! code 127
npm ERR! command failed

Common causes

Storybook not installed

The storybook package is missing, or npm ci --omit=dev pruned it before this step.

Old binary name

Recent Storybook unified the CLI to storybook build; an old build-storybook script may no longer resolve.

How to fix it

Install Storybook and use the current CLI

1. Install storybook as a dev dependency.
2. Call it through npm scripts so it resolves from node_modules/.bin.

npm install -D storybook
# package.json script
"build-storybook": "storybook build"

Do not prune dev deps before this step

1. Ensure devDependencies are present when the Storybook step runs.

npm ci   # not --omit=dev when building Storybook

How to prevent it

• Invoke Storybook via npm scripts, not a global binary.
• Keep dev dependencies installed for build jobs.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• Node.js documentation
• npm CLI documentation
• GitHub Actions documentation