ERR code ENOENT for package.json at arbitrary node_module when doing npm install nwb

I am trying to install nwb. I already ran npm init successfully and have successfully installed other node_modules. Platform is Ubuntu.

Specifically when running npm install --save-dev nwb, I get the following error:

$ npm install --save-dev nwb    npm ERR! code ENOENT  npm ERR! syscall open  npm ERR! path /home/Me/MyProject/app/frontend/node_modules/del/node_modules/globby/node_modules/pify/package.json.1025684562  npm ERR! errno -2  npm ERR! enoent ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/Me/MyProject/app/frontend/node_modules/del/node_modules/globby/node_modules/pify/package.json.1025684562'  npm ERR! enoent This is related to npm not being able to find a file.  npm ERR! enoent     npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:  npm ERR!     /home/Me/.npm/_logs/2020-12-20T04_20_08_769Z-debug.log  

where the package.json.########## changes each time I run npm install --save-dev nwb.

Any ideas what this could be?

from Recent Questions - Stack Overflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65376928/err-code-enoent-for-package-json-at-arbitrary-node-module-when-doing-npm-install pangolin