Ganache-UI fails to link with Truffle project

Question

Created Truffle project with truffle init. The project has two simple contracts written in Vyper. I configure the project's truffle-config.js to point at Ganache-UI.

Using truffle test, my contracts deploy to Ganache-UI and unit tests pass. I see the expected activity in Ganache-UI's transactions, blocks, and log tabs.

Because I'm learning to write Ethereum smart contracts, I want the extra runtime information Ganache-UI says I can get by linking it to my Truffle project. I added my truffle-config.js to a Ganache-UI workspace.

But when I run the Workspace and go to the Contract's tab, there are no contracts. Instead, there's an error message:

Could not find 'node'. Node.js is required to be installed to link Truffle projects.
Check the project configuration or try restarting Ganache.

I'm using:

• ganache-ui: 2.5.4
• macos: 13.1
• truffle: 5.7.3
• ganache: 7.7.3
• solidity: 0.8.17
• node: 18.8.0
• web3.js: 1.8.1

The Ganache-UI error message is mystifying. Node is installed and works. Restarting Ganache-UI doesn't fix the problem.

How can I successfully link my Truffle project to Ganache-UI?

---

My truffle-config.js. Created by truffle init. Only change, uncomment developer network section and change port to my Ganache-UI's port.

module.exports = {
  networks: {
    development: {
      host: "127.0.0.1",
      port: 7545,
      network_id: "*"
    }
  },
  mocha: {  },
  compilers: { solc: {  version: "0.8.17"  }  }
};

Answer 1

Try this:

node -v
which node

To verify what version you're running

Run:

echo $PATH

To verify the path

If the issue still persists, you can try running Ganache-UI from the command line to ensure it picks up the correct environment variables:

open /Applications/Ganache.app/Contents/MacOS/Ganache

Replace "/Applications/Ganache.app" with the actual path to your Ganache-UI installation if it's different.

This command opens Ganache-UI with the same environment variables as your terminal session, so it should be able to find the installed Node.js.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, you can try reinstalling Node.js and Ganache-UI to ensure proper installation and environment variable setup.