Node "The engine 'node' is incompatible" at Runtime in CI - Align Node Versions

A package declares a supported Node range in its engines field. When a tool enforces it strictly and CI runs a Node outside that range, execution is blocked.

What this error means

A CI step fails with The engine "node" is incompatible with this module. Expected version ... Got <version>, because the runner Node is outside the package engines range.

node

error some-cli@3.0.0: The engine "node" is incompatible with this module.
Expected version ">=20". Got "18.19.0"
error Found incompatible module.

Common causes

The CI Node version is outside the engines range

The runner runs a Node version the package does not support, and strict engine enforcement blocks it.

A pinned older Node lagging a dependency bump

A dependency raised its minimum Node version, but CI still pins the old one.

How to fix it

Pin a Node version inside the range

Read the required engines range from the error.
Set the CI Node version to satisfy it.

GitHub Actions

- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
  with:
    node-version: 20

Declare your own engines to keep CI honest

Set engines in package.json to the Node range you support.
Align the CI matrix with it.

package.json

"engines": { "node": ">=20" }

How to prevent it

Keep your engines field, the CI Node matrix, and your dependencies aligned so a Node bump in a dependency is caught and matched in CI.