How to debug and fix npm and yarn connection issues? - npm

Question

I am trying to create a new create-react-app project (yarn create react-app my-app and npm init react-app my-app and npx create-react-app my-app) but it fails with network / connection issues (logs shown below). I have tried a bunch of fixes but nothing works. What else can I try or how can I check if it really is a network issue (how to debug)?
What I've tried:
Successfully run other yarn and npm commands
yarn add axios and npm install axios
Checked .npmrc and it has registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/
Increased yarn's network timeout yarn install --network-timeout 1000000
Reinstalled create react app
npm uninstall -g create-react-app
&& npm install -g create-react-app -d
Checked the proxy settings yarn config get proxy // undefined yarn config get https-proxy // undefined
Made sure my version of npm (9.4.0) supports tls1.2 npm install -g https://tls-test.npmjs.com/tls-test-1.0.0.tgz
If I run yarn create react-app my-app it logs
yarn create v1.22.19
[2/4] 🚚 Fetching packages...
info There appears to be trouble with your network connection. Retrying...
error An unexpected error occurred: https://registry.yarnpkg.com/tar/-/tar-2.2.2.tgz: aborted.
This is the output in the bug report
Trace:
Error: aborted
at connResetException (node:internal/errors:718:14)
at TLSSocket.socketCloseListener (node:_http_client:456:19)
at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:525:35)
at node:net:320:12
at TCP.done (node:_tls_wrap:588:7)
If I run npm init create-react-app my-app it logs the following to the console
npm ERR! code ECONNRESET
npm ERR! network aborted
npm ERR! network This is a problem related to network connectivity.
npm ERR! network In most cases you are behind a proxy or have bad network settings.
npm ERR! network
npm ERR! network If you are behind a proxy, please make sure that the
npm ERR! network 'proxy' config is set properly. See: 'npm help config'
This is the output in the bug report
…
385 notice Beginning October 4, 2021, all connections to the npm registry - including for package installation - must use TLS 1.2 or higher. You are currently using plaintext http to connect. Please visit the GitHub blog for more information: https://github.blog/2021-08-23-npm-registry-deprecating-tls-1-0-tls-1-1/
386 http fetch POST 426 http://registry.npmjs.org/-/npm/v1/security/audits/quick 150ms
387 verbose audit error HttpErrorGeneral: 426 Upgrade Required - POST
387 verbose audit error at async AuditReport.run (/Users/.nvm/versions/node/v18.13.0/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/#npmcli/arborist/lib/audit-report.js:106:19) {
387 verbose audit error headers: [Object: null prototype] {
387 verbose audit error date: [ 'Fri, 27 Jan 2023 00:52:26 GMT' ],
387 verbose audit error 'content-type': [ 'text/plain' ],
387 verbose audit error 'content-length': [ '271' ],
387 verbose audit error connection: [ 'keep-alive' ],
387 verbose audit error 'npm-notice': [
387 verbose audit error 'Beginning October 4, 2021, all connections to the npm registry - including for package installation - must use TLS 1.2 or higher. You are currently using plaintext http to connect. Please visit the GitHub blog for more information: https://github.blog/2021-08-23-npm-registry-deprecating-tls-1-0-tls-1-1/'
387 verbose audit error ],
387 verbose audit error vary: [ 'Accept-Encoding' ],
387 verbose audit error server: [ 'cloudflare' ],
387 verbose audit error 'cf-ray': [ '78fd816fa9cc5ab4-MEL' ],
387 verbose audit error via: [ 'HTTP/1.1 m_proxy_mel1' ],
387 verbose audit error 'x-fetch-attempts': [ '1' ]
387 verbose audit error },
387 verbose audit error statusCode: 426,
387 verbose audit error code: 'E426',
387 verbose audit error method: 'POST',
387 verbose audit error uri: 'http://registry.npmjs.org/-/npm/v1/security/audits/quick',
387 verbose audit error body: <Buffer 42 65 67 69 6e 6e 69 6e 67 20 4f 63 74 6f 62 65 72 20 34 2c 20 32 30 32 31 2c 20 61 6c 6c 20 63 6f 6e 6e 65 63 74 69 6f 6e 73 20 74 6f 20 6e 70 6d 20 ... 221 more bytes>,
387 verbose audit error pkgid: undefined
387 verbose audit error }
388 silly audit error Beginning October 4, 2021, all connections to npm websites and the npm registry - including for package installation - must use HTTPS and TLS 1.2 or higher.
388 silly audit error
388 silly audit error For more information see this blog post: https://github.blog/2021-08-23-npm-registry-deprecating-tls-1-0-tls-1-1/
389 timing auditReport:getReport Completed in 325ms
390 silly audit report null
391 timing reify:audit Completed in 325ms
392 verbose stack Error: aborted
392 verbose stack at connResetException (node:internal/errors:718:14)
392 verbose stack at TLSSocket.socketCloseListener (node:_http_client:456:19)
392 verbose stack at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:525:35)
392 verbose stack at node:net:320:12
392 verbose stack at TCP.done (node:_tls_wrap:588:7)
394 verbose Darwin 22.2.0
395 verbose node v18.13.0
396 verbose npm v9.4.0
397 error code ECONNRESET
398 error network aborted
399 error network This is a problem related to network connectivity.
399 error network In most cases you are behind a proxy or have bad network settings.
399 error network
399 error network If you are behind a proxy, please make sure that the
399 error network 'proxy' config is set properly. See: 'npm help config'
400 verbose exit 1
401 timing npm Completed in 43344ms
402 verbose unfinished npm timer command:init 1674780703163
403 verbose unfinished npm timer reify 1674780735103
404 verbose unfinished npm timer reify:unpack 1674780745902
405 verbose unfinished npm timer reifyNode:node_modules/tar 1674780745904
406 verbose unfinished npm timer reify:rollback:createSparse 1674780746457
407 verbose code 1
Node.js v18.13.0
npm --version 9.4.0
yarn 1.22.19