# Forest init unable to set up the development environment

**URL:** <https://community.forestadmin.com/t/forest-init-unable-to-set-up-the-development-environment/5675>\
**Category:** Help me!\
**Tags:** setup\
**Created:** [December 7, 2022, 3:39pm UTC](https://community.forestadmin.com/t/forest-init-unable-to-set-up-the-development-environment/5675 "2022-12-07T15:39:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![guillim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@guillim](https://community.forestadmin.com/u/guillim)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 3:39pm UTC](https://community.forestadmin.com/t/forest-init-unable-to-set-up-the-development-environment/5675/1 "2022-12-07T15:39:24Z")

</div>

## Feature(s) impacted

I want to setup my project on another computer in order to create a new smart action, so I followed the development workflow getting started guide ([Development workflow | Developer Guide](https://docs.forestadmin.com/documentation/getting-started/development-workflow)).

## Observed behavior

Unfortunately the `forest init` command is failing with the following message:

```javascript
√ Selecting your project
√ Analyzing your setup
√ Checking your database setup
× Setting up your development environment
× Cannot read properties of null (reading 'match')

```

What is causing this issue, How can I solve it?

## What I’ve tried

I first installed the forest-cli, then run `forest login`. I authenticated without any issues.  
I tried to run the command with the project launched with `npm start` and without, it doesn’t seems like it changed anything. I also tried to create a .env file with the following content, but it didn’t changed anything either (if I understand it well, `forest init` should give me values for my .env file so it shouldn’t be required for the `forest init` command right?).

```javascript
FOREST_ENV_SECRET=<my-forest-env-secret>
APPLICATION_URL=<my-application-url>
DATABASE_SSL=true
DATABASE_URL=<my-mongodb-database-url>
FOREST_AUTH_SECRET=<my-forest-auth-secret>
NODE_ENV=production

```

## Context

- Project name: mppv2admin
- Team name: monpetitparquet
- Environment name: production (?)
- Agent type & version: forest-express-mongoose 8.7.0

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alban\_Bertolini](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.forestadmin.com/alban_bertolini/32/1077_2.png) [@Alban\_Bertolini](https://community.forestadmin.com/u/Alban_Bertolini)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 4:07pm UTC](https://community.forestadmin.com/t/forest-init-unable-to-set-up-the-development-environment/5675/2 "2022-12-07T16:07:54Z")

</div>

Hello and welcome,  
The cli [forest](https://docs.forestadmin.com/documentation/reference-guide/how-it-works/developing-on-forest-admin/forest-cli-commands/init) [init - Developer guide](https://docs.forestadmin.com/documentation/reference-guide/how-it-works/developing-on-forest-admin/forest-cli-commands/init) does’t provide the .env values. These values are confidential. You can copy/past your .env from you previous computer to the new.  
Also, your cli does’t seem to be up to date, please run these commands:  
`npm update -g forest-cli`  
`forest --version` =\> should display forest-cli/3.0.6.  
After that, try to run `forest init` again 🙂  
I hope It will help you.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![guillim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@guillim](https://community.forestadmin.com/u/guillim)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 4:42pm UTC](https://community.forestadmin.com/t/forest-init-unable-to-set-up-the-development-environment/5675/3 "2022-12-07T16:42:14Z")

</div>

Thank you for the information, I provided the required values to my .env file.

I ran `npm update -g forest-cli` and `forest --version`. It shows `forest-cli/3.0.6 linux-x64 node-v16.18.1`.  
I tried to run `forest init` again but it still shows me the same output. May it be related to my node version?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alban\_Bertolini](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.forestadmin.com/alban_bertolini/32/1077_2.png) [@Alban\_Bertolini](https://community.forestadmin.com/u/Alban_Bertolini)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 2:50pm UTC](https://community.forestadmin.com/t/forest-init-unable-to-set-up-the-development-environment/5675/4 "2022-12-08T14:50:06Z")

</div>

I have try to run the cli with your node version and I don’t have any issue.  
Please, try to remove your old development environment, and run the `forest init` again.  
Remove all the data in your .env, and select the correct project. Is It the same result ?  
Do you have any other errors please ?