ERESOLVE unable to resolve dependency tree

[KeithArnold]

I have been learning React.js, and am trying to set up Storybook to try out. I've run create-react-app in directory ./storybook, and am now attempting to initialize storybook using npx sb init, but receiving the following error. Grateful for any help or pointers because I'm not sure how to move forward! I've run across similar issues experienced by others on StackOverflow etc., but the general advice to use --force or --legacy-peer-deps doesn't work.

$ npx sb init

sb init - the simplest way to add a Storybook to your project.

• Detecting project type. ✓
npm ERR! code ERESOLVE
npm ERR! ERESOLVE unable to resolve dependency tree
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Found: [email protected]
npm ERR! node_modules/react
npm ERR! peer react@"" from @testing-library/[email protected]
npm ERR! node_modules/@testing-library/react
npm ERR! @testing-library/react@"^11.2.5" from the root project
npm ERR! peer react@"17.0.1" from [email protected]
npm ERR! node_modules/react-dom
npm ERR! peer react-dom@"" from @testing-library/[email protected]
npm ERR! node_modules/@testing-library/react
npm ERR! @testing-library/react@"^11.2.5" from the root project
npm ERR! react-dom@"^17.0.1" from the root project
npm ERR! 9 more (@storybook/addon-actions, ...)
npm ERR! 11 more (react-scripts, the root project, ...)
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Could not resolve dependency:
npm ERR! peer react@"^16.8.4" from [email protected]
npm ERR! node_modules/@storybook/addon-actions/node_modules/react-inspector
npm ERR! react-inspector@"^5.0.1" from @storybook/[email protected]
npm ERR! node_modules/@storybook/addon-actions
npm ERR! dev @storybook/addon-actions@"^6.1.20" from the root project
npm ERR! 1 more (@storybook/addon-essentials)
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Fix the upstream dependency conflict, or retry
npm ERR! this command with --force, or --legacy-peer-deps
npm ERR! to accept an incorrect (and potentially broken) dependency resolution.
npm ERR!
npm ERR! See C:\Users\keith\AppData\Local\npm-cache\eresolve-report.txt for a full report.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! C:\Users\keith\AppData\Local\npm-cache_logs\2021-02-26T02_41_13_045Z-debug.log
An error occurred while installing dependencies.

npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path C:\Users\keith\Dev\Code_Misc\storybook
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /d /s /c sb init

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! C:\Users\keith\AppData\Local\npm-cache_logs\2021-02-26T02_41_13_159Z-debug.log

[KeithArnold]

Solved. Apparently the problem lies with stricter peer dependency logic in npm 7, so I rolled back to npm v6 and the reran npx sb init. Lots of warning messages, but it has allowed me to get Storybook installed!