React app running locally failing with opensslErrorStack ERR_OSSL_EVP_UNSUPPORTED

I just started getting this error starting up my React app locally with ‘npm run start’ :

opensslErrorStack: [ 'error:03000086:digital envelope routines::initialization error' ],
  library: 'digital envelope routines',
  reason: 'unsupported',
  code: 'ERR_OSSL_EVP_UNSUPPORTED'

I recently installed nvm on my Mac to avoid needing sudo for running a ‘npm i -g’, and also apparently picked up the latest stable node version and not lts.

Running ‘nvm ls’ to see what version I have and what’s available:

> nvm ls
->      v17.3.0
         system
default -> node (-> v17.3.0)

According to https://nodejs.org/en/download/current/ 17.3.0 is the latest current and not lts. Answers to this related question suggested switching back to lts to avoid this change.

Following the nvm docs :

nvm install -lts
nvm use --lts

Now I’ve back at version 16.13.1, and my React app with ‘npm run start’ now starts as expected.