Node-Red "SyntaxError: Unexpected end of input" after reboot from Raspberry

Hello all,
I am quite new to the world of Raspberry and Node Red.

So far, my system has been super stable and everything went without a hitch. Now I wanted to make a backup from my SD card and for this I shut down the Pi. After switching it on again, Node Red does not start anymore.

I have already tried a few things, but unfortunately without success.
I hope you can help me with my error.

pi@raspi:~ $ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)"
NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="10"
VERSION="10 (buster)"
VERSION_CODENAME=buster
ID=raspbian
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianForums"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianBugs"


pi@raspi:~ $ npm list -g node-red
/usr/lib
└── node-red@2.0.5


pi@raspi:~ $ node-red-start

Start Node-RED

Once Node-RED has started, point a browser at http://192.168.1.111:1880
On Pi Node-RED works better with the Firefox or Chrome browser

Use   node-red-stop                          to stop Node-RED
Use   node-red-start                         to start Node-RED again
Use   node-red-log                           to view the recent log output
Use   sudo systemctl enable nodered.service  to autostart Node-RED at every boot
Use   sudo systemctl disable nodered.service to disable autostart on boot

To find more nodes and example flows - go to http://flows.nodered.org

Starting as a systemd service.
Error loading settings file: /home/pi/.node-red/settings.js
/home/pi/.node-red/settings.js:500
SyntaxError: Unexpected end of input
    at wrapSafe (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:988:16)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1036:27)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1101:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:937:32)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:778:12)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:961:19)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:92:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/lib/node_modules/node-red/red.js:136:20)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1072:14)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1101:10)
nodered.service: Succeeded.

You have an issue in your settings.js file
Did you edit it?
If you copy it and paste it in a reply we can take a look at it

In order to make code readable and usable it is necessary to surround your code with three backticks (also known as a left quote or backquote ```)

``` 
   code goes here 
```

You can edit and correct your post by clicking the pencil :pencil2: icon.

See this post for more details - How to share code or flow json

It's been a while since I set up the system. I am not sure anymore if I changed something in the file. I did not change anything before/after the backup.

/**
 * Node-RED Settings created at Sun, 29 Aug 2021 12:20:00 GMT
 *
 * It can contain any valid JavaScript code that will get run when Node-RED
 * is started.
 *
 * Lines that start with // are commented out.
 * Each entry should be separated from the entries above and below by a comma ','
 *
 * For more information about individual settings, refer to the documentation:
 *    https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/runtime/configuration
 *
 * The settings are split into the following sections:
 *  - Flow File and User Directory Settings
 *  - Security
 *  - Server Settings
 *  - Runtime Settings
 *  - Editor Settings
 *  - Node Settings
 *
 **/

module.exports = {

/*******************************************************************************
 * Flow File and User Directory Settings
 *  - flowFile
 *  - credentialSecret
 *  - flowFilePretty
 *  - userDir
 *  - nodesDir
 ******************************************************************************/

    /** The file containing the flows. If not set, defaults to flows_<hostname>.json **/
    flowFile: "flows.json",

    /** By default, credentials are encrypted in storage using a generated key. To
     * specify your own secret, set the following property.
     * If you want to disable encryption of credentials, set this property to false.
     * Note: once you set this property, do not change it - doing so will prevent
     * node-red from being able to decrypt your existing credentials and they will be
     * lost.
     */
    credentialSecret: false,

    /** By default, the flow JSON will be formatted over multiple lines making
     * it easier to compare changes when using version control.
     * To disable pretty-printing of the JSON set the following property to false.
     */
    flowFilePretty: true,
    
    /** By default, all user data is stored in a directory called `.node-red` under
     * the user's home directory. To use a different location, the following
     * property can be used
     */
    //userDir: '/home/nol/.node-red/',

    /** Node-RED scans the `nodes` directory in the userDir to find local node files.
     * The following property can be used to specify an additional directory to scan.
     */
    //nodesDir: '/home/nol/.node-red/nodes',

/*******************************************************************************
 * Security
 *  - adminAuth
 *  - https
 *  - httpsRefreshInterval
 *  - requireHttps
 *  - httpNodeAuth
 *  - httpStaticAuth
 ******************************************************************************/

    /** To password protect the Node-RED editor and admin API, the following
     * property can be used. See http://nodered.org/docs/security.html for details.
     */

    adminAuth: {
     "type": "credentials",
        "users": [
            {
                "username": "admin",
                "password": "...",
                "permissions": "*"
            },
            {
                "username": "raspi",
                "password": "...",
                "permissions": "read"
            }
        ]
    },

    /** The following property can be used to enable HTTPS
     * This property can be either an object, containing both a (private) key
     * and a (public) certificate, or a function that returns such an object.
     * See http://nodejs.org/api/https.html#https_https_createserver_options_requestlistener
     * for details of its contents.
     */

    /** Option 1: static object */
    //https: {
    //  key: require("fs").readFileSync('privkey.pem'),
    //  cert: require("fs").readFileSync('cert.pem')
    //},

    /** Option 2: function that returns the HTTP configuration object */
     // https: function() {
    //     // This function should return the options object, or a Promise
    //     // that resolves to the options object
    //     return {
    //         key: require("fs").readFileSync('privkey.pem'),
    //         cert: require("fs").readFileSync('cert.pem')
    //     }
    // },

    /** If the `https` setting is a function, the following setting can be used
     * to set how often, in hours, the function will be called. That can be used
     * to refresh any certificates.
     */
    //httpsRefreshInterval : 12,

    /** The following property can be used to cause insecure HTTP connections to
     * be redirected to HTTPS.
     */
    //requireHttps: true,

    /** To password protect the node-defined HTTP endpoints (httpNodeRoot),
     * including node-red-dashboard, or the static content (httpStatic), the
     * following properties can be used.
     * The `pass` field is a bcrypt hash of the password.
     * See http://nodered.org/docs/security.html#generating-the-password-hash
     */
    //httpNodeAuth: {user:"user",pass:"$2a$08$zZWtXTja0fB1pzD4sHCMyOCMYz2Z6dNbM6tl8sJogENOMcxWV9DN."},
    //httpStaticAuth: {user:"user",pass:"$2a$08$zZWtXTja0fB1pzD4sHCMyOCMYz2Z6dNbM6tl8sJogENOMcxWV9DN."},

/*******************************************************************************
 * Server Settings
  *  - uiPort
 *  - uiHost
 *  - apiMaxLength
 *  - httpServerOptions
 *  - httpAdminRoot
 *  - httpAdminMiddleware
 *  - httpNodeRoot
 *  - httpNodeCors
 *  - httpNodeMiddleware
 *  - httpStatic
 ******************************************************************************/

    /** the tcp port that the Node-RED web server is listening on */
    uiPort: process.env.PORT || 1880,

    /** By default, the Node-RED UI accepts connections on all IPv4 interfaces.
     * To listen on all IPv6 addresses, set uiHost to "::",
     * The following property can be used to listen on a specific interface. For
     * example, the following would only allow connections from the local machine.
     */
    //uiHost: "127.0.0.1",

    /** The maximum size of HTTP request that will be accepted by the runtime api.
     * Default: 5mb
     */
    //apiMaxLength: '5mb',

    /** The following property can be used to pass custom options to the Express.js
     * server used by Node-RED. For a full list of available options, refer
     * to http://expressjs.com/en/api.html#app.settings.table
     */
    //httpServerOptions: { },
    
    /** By default, the Node-RED UI is available at http://localhost:1880/
     * The following property can be used to specify a different root path.
     * If set to false, this is disabled.
     */
    //httpAdminRoot: '/admin',

    /** The following property can be used to add a custom middleware function
     * in front of all admin http routes. For example, to set custom http
     * headers. It can be a single function or an array of middleware functions.
     */
    // httpAdminMiddleware: function(req,res,next) {
    //    // Set the X-Frame-Options header to limit where the editor
    //    // can be embedded
    //    //res.set('X-Frame-Options', 'sameorigin');
    //    next();
    // },


    /** Some nodes, such as HTTP In, can be used to listen for incoming http requests.
     * By default, these are served relative to '/'. The following property
     * can be used to specifiy a different root path. If set to false, this is
     * disabled.
     */
    //httpNodeRoot: '/red-nodes',
     /** The following property can be used to configure cross-origin resource sharing
     * in the HTTP nodes.
     * See https://github.com/troygoode/node-cors#configuration-options for
     * details on its contents. The following is a basic permissive set of options:
     */
    //httpNodeCors: {
    //    origin: "*",
    //    methods: "GET,PUT,POST,DELETE"
    //},

    /** If you need to set an http proxy please set an environment variable
     * called http_proxy (or HTTP_PROXY) outside of Node-RED in the operating system.
     * For example - http_proxy=http://myproxy.com:8080
     * (Setting it here will have no effect)
     * You may also specify no_proxy (or NO_PROXY) to supply a comma separated
     * list of domains to not proxy, eg - no_proxy=.acme.co,.acme.co.uk
     */

    /** The following property can be used to add a custom middleware function
     * in front of all http in nodes. This allows custom authentication to be
     * applied to all http in nodes, or any other sort of common request processing.
     * It can be a single function or an array of middleware functions.
     */
    //httpNodeMiddleware: function(req,res,next) {
    //    // Handle/reject the request, or pass it on to the http in node by calling next();
    //    // Optionally skip our rawBodyParser by setting this to true;
    //    //req.skipRawBodyParser = true;
    //    next();
    //},

    /** When httpAdminRoot is used to move the UI to a different root path, the
     * following property can be used to identify a directory of static content
     * that should be served at http://localhost:1880/.
     */
    //httpStatic: '/home/nol/node-red-static/',
    /*******************************************************************************
 * Runtime Settings
 *  - lang
 *  - logging
 *  - contextStorage
 *  - exportGlobalContextKeys
 *  - externalModules
 ******************************************************************************/

     /** Uncomment the following to run node-red in your preferred language.
      * Available languages include: en-US (default), ja, de, zh-CN, zh-TW, ru, ko
      * Some languages are more complete than others.
      */
     // lang: "de",

     /** Configure the logging output */
     logging: {
         /** Only console logging is currently supported */
         console: {
             /** Level of logging to be recorded. Options are:
              * fatal - only those errors which make the application unusable should be recorded
              * error - record errors which are deemed fatal for a particular request + fatal errors
              * warn - record problems which are non fatal + errors + fatal errors
              * info - record information about the general running of the application + warn + error + fatal errors
              * debug - record information which is more verbose than info + info + warn + error + fatal errors
              * trace - record very detailed logging + debug + info + warn + error + fatal errors
              * off - turn off all logging (doesn't affect metrics or audit)
              */
             level: "info",
              /** Whether or not to include metric events in the log output */
             metrics: false,
             /** Whether or not to include audit events in the log output */
             audit: false
         }
     },

     /** Context Storage
      * The following property can be used to enable context storage. The configuration
      * provided here will enable file-based context that flushes to disk every 30 seconds.
      * Refer to the documentation for further options: https://nodered.org/docs/api/context/
      */
     //contextStorage: {
     //    default: {
     //        module:"localfilesystem"
     //    },
     //},

     /** `global.keys()` returns a list of all properties set in global context.
      * This allows them to be displayed in the Context Sidebar within the editor.
      * In some circumstances it is not desirable to expose them to the editor. The
      * following property can be used to hide any property set in `functionGlobalContext`
      * from being list by `global.keys()`.
      * By default, the property is set to false to avoid accidental exposure of
      * their values. Setting this to true will cause the keys to be listed.
      */
     exportGlobalContextKeys: false,
      /** Configure how the runtime will handle external npm modules.
      * This covers:
      *  - whether the editor will allow new node modules to be installed
      *  - whether nodes, such as the Function node are allowed to have their
      * own dynamically configured dependencies.
      * The allow/denyList options can be used to limit what modules the runtime
      * will install/load. It can use '*' as a wildcard that matches anything.
      */
     externalModules: {
         // autoInstall: false,   /** Whether the runtime will attempt to automatically install missing modules */
         // autoInstallRetry: 30, /** Interval, in seconds, between reinstall attempts */
         // palette: {              /** Configuration for the Palette Manager */
         //     allowInstall: true, /** Enable the Palette Manager in the editor */
         //     allowUpload: true,  /** Allow module tgz files to be uploaded and installed */
         //     allowList: [],
         //     denyList: []
         // },
         // modules: {              /** Configuration for node-specified modules */
         //     allowInstall: true,
         //     allowList: [],
         //     denyList: []
         // }
     },
     /*******************************************************************************
 * Editor Settings
 *  - disableEditor
 *  - editorTheme
 ******************************************************************************/

    /** The following property can be used to disable the editor. The admin API
     * is not affected by this option. To disable both the editor and the admin
     * API, use either the httpRoot or httpAdminRoot properties
     */
    //disableEditor: false,

    /** Customising the editor
     * See https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/runtime/configuration#editor-themes
     * for all available options.
     */
    editorTheme: {
        /** The following property can be used to set a custom theme for the editor.
         * See https://github.com/node-red-contrib-themes/theme-collection for
         * a collection of themes to chose from.
         */
        //theme: "",
        palette: {
            /** The following property can be used to order the categories in the editor
             * palette. If a node's category is not in the list, the category will get
             * added to the end of the palette.
             * If not set, the following default order is used:
             */
            //categories: ['subflows', 'common', 'function', 'network', 'sequence', 'parser', 'storage'],
        },
        projects: {
         /** To enable the Projects feature, set this value to true */
            enabled: false,
            workflow: {
                /** Set the default projects workflow mode.
                 *  - manual - you must manually commit changes
                 *  - auto - changes are automatically committed
                 * This can be overridden per-user from the 'Git config'
                 * section of 'User Settings' within the editor
                 */
                mode: "manual"
            }
        },
        codeEditor: {
            /** Select the text editor component used by the editor.
             * Defaults to "ace", but can be set to "ace" or "monaco"
             */
            lib: "ace",
            options: {
                /** The follow options only apply if the editor is set to "monaco"
                 *
                 * theme - must match the file name of a theme in
                 * packages/node_modules/@node-red/editor-client/src/vendor/monaco/dist/theme
                 * e.g. "tomorrow-night", "upstream-sunburst", "github", "my-theme"
                 */
                theme: "vs",
                 /** other overrides can be set e.g. fontSize, fontFamily, fontLigatures etc.
                 * for the full list, see https://microsoft.github.io/monaco-editor/api/interfaces/monaco.editor.istandaloneeditorconstructionoptions.html
                 */
                //fontSize: 14,
                //fontFamily: "Cascadia Code, Fira Code, Consolas, 'Courier New', monospace",
                //fontLigatures: true,
            }
        }
    },

/*******************************************************************************
 * Node Settings
 *  - fileWorkingDirectory
 *  - functionGlobalContext
 *  - functionExternalModules
 *  - nodeMessageBufferMaxLength
 *  - ui (for use with Node-RED Dashboard)
 *  - debugUseColors
 *  - debugMaxLength
 *  - execMaxBufferSize
 *  - httpRequestTimeout
 *  - mqttReconnectTime
 *  - serialReconnectTime
 *  - socketReconnectTime
 *  - socketTimeout
 *  - tcpMsgQueueSize
 *  - inboundWebSocketTimeout
 *  - tlsConfigDisableLocalFiles
 *  - webSocketNodeVerifyClient
 ******************************************************************************/

  /** The working directory to handle relative file paths from within the File nodes
     * defaults to the working directory of the Node-RED process.
     */
    //fileWorkingDirectory: "",

    /** Allow the Function node to load additional npm modules directly */
    functionExternalModules: true,

    /** The following property can be used to set predefined values in Global Context.
     * This allows extra node modules to be made available with in Function node.
     * For example, the following:
     *    functionGlobalContext: { os:require('os') }
     * will allow the `os` module to be accessed in a Function node using:
     *    global.get("os")
     */
    functionGlobalContext: {
        // os:require('os'),
    },

    /** The maximum number of messages nodes will buffer internally as part of their
     * operation. This applies across a range of nodes that operate on message sequences.
     * defaults to no limit. A value of 0 also means no limit is applied.
     */
    //nodeMessageBufferMaxLength: 0,
     /** If you installed the optional node-red-dashboard you can set it's path
     * relative to httpNodeRoot
     * Other optional properties include
     *  readOnly:{boolean},
     *  middleware:{function or array}, (req,res,next) - http middleware
     *  ioMiddleware:{function or array}, (socket,next) - socket.io middleware
     */
    //ui: { path: "ui" },

    /** Colourise the console output of the debug node */
    //debugUseColors: true,

    /** The maximum length, in characters, of any message sent to the debug sidebar tab */
    debugMaxLength: 1000,

    /** Maximum buffer size for the exec node. Defaults to 10Mb */
    //execMaxBufferSize: 10000000,

    /** Timeout in milliseconds for HTTP request connections. Defaults to 120s */
    //httpRequestTimeout: 120000,

    /** Retry time in milliseconds for MQTT connections */
    mqttReconnectTime: 15000,

    /** Retry time in milliseconds for Serial port connections */
    serialReconnectTime: 15000,

    /** Retry time in milliseconds for TCP socket connections */
    //socketReconnectTime: 10000,

    /** Timeout in milliseconds for TCP server socket connections. Defaults to no timeout */
    //socketTimeout: 120000,

    /** Maximum number of messages to wait in queue while attempting to connect to TCP socket
     * defaults to 1000
     */
    //tcpMsgQueueSize: 2000,
     /** Timeout in milliseconds for inbound WebSocket connections that do not
     * match any configured node. Defaults to 5000
     */
    //inboundWebSocketTimeout: 5000,

    /** To disable the option for using local files for storing keys and
     * certificates in the TLS configuration node, set this to true.
     */
    //tlsConfigDisableLocalFiles: true,

    /** The following property can be used to verify websocket connection attempts.
     * This allows, for example, the HTTP request headers to be checked to ensure
     * they include valid authentication information.
     */
    //webSocketNodeVerifyClient: function(info) {
    //    /** 'info' has three properties:
    //    *   - origin : the value in the Origin header
    //    *   - req : the HTTP request
    //    *   - secure : true if req.connection.authorized or req.connection.encrypted is set
    //    *
    //    * The function should return true if the connection should be accepted, false otherwise.
    //    *
    //    * Alternatively, if this function is defined to accept a second argument, callback,
    //    * it can be used to verify the client asynchronously.
    //    * The callback takes three arguments:
    //    *   - result : boolean, whether to accept the connection or not
    //    *   - code : if result is false, the HTTP error status to return
    //    *   - reason: if result is false, the HTTP reason string to return
     //},

        contextStorage: {
         default: {
            module: "localfilesystem"
         },
}

Your settings.js file is definitely truncated. There is no } matching module.exports = {

If you stop Node-red, rename settings.js and restart, it should create a new default settings file.

I think you have edited your settings file at least to use persistent context, so you might want to reqtore that option.

Yaaay that works. Thank you :slight_smile:

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