bug: Building Ionic cordova android returns ERROR "An unhandled exception occurred: Project target does not exist."

Prerequisites

• I have read the Contributing Guidelines.
• I agree to follow the Code of Conduct.
• I have searched for existing issues that already report this problem, without success.

Ionic Framework Version

• v4.x
• v5.x
• v6.x

Current Behavior

Ionic cordova build android is not working and returning the below error:

Expected Behavior

Ionic Cordova should build the project for android normally.

Steps to Reproduce

$ ionic start --cordova

Pick a framework!

Please select the JavaScript framework to use for your new app. To bypass this prompt next time, supply a value for the
--type option.

? Framework: Angular

Every great app needs a name!

Please enter the full name of your app. You can change this at any time. To bypass this prompt next time, supply name,
the first argument to ionic start.

? Project name: temp-ionic6

Let's pick the perfect starter template!

Starter templates are ready-to-go Ionic apps that come packed with everything you need to build your app. To bypass this
prompt next time, supply template, the second argument to ionic start.

? Starter template: sidemenu
√ Preparing directory .\temp-ionic6 in 2.06ms
√ Downloading and extracting sidemenu starter in 474.11ms
....
....
....
....
Your Ionic app is ready! Follow these next steps:

- Go to your new project: cd .\temp-ionic6
- Run ionic serve within the app directory to see your app in the browser
- Run ionic cordova platform add to add a native iOS or Android project using Cordova
- Generate your app icon and splash screens using cordova-res
- Explore the Ionic docs for components, tutorials, and more: https://ion.link/docs
- Building an enterprise app? Ionic has Enterprise Support and Features: https://ion.link/enterprise-edition

$ ionic cordova platform add android
√ Creating .\www directory for you in 3.60ms
> cordova.cmd platform add android

You have been opted out of telemetry. To change this, run: cordova telemetry on.
Using cordova-fetch for cordova-android@^10.1.1
Adding android project...
Creating Cordova project for the Android platform:
        Path: platforms\android
        Package: io.ionic.starter
        Name: temp-ionic6
        Activity: MainActivity
        Android target: android-30
Subproject Path: CordovaLib
Subproject Path: app
Android project created with cordova-android@10.1.1
....
....
....
[cordova-res] Generated 18 resources for android
[cordova-res] Wrote to config.xml

$ionic cordova build android
> ng.cmd run app:ionic-cordova-build --platform=android
An unhandled exception occurred: Project target does not exist.
See "C:\Users\MOALAS~1\AppData\Local\Temp\ng-DDj9ln\angular-errors.log" for further details.
[ERROR] An error occurred while running subprocess ng.

Code Reproduction URL

https://github.com/MoAsmar/temp-ionic6

Ionic Info

Ionic:

   Ionic CLI                     : 6.18.2 (C:\Users\moalasmar\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\@ionic\cli)
   Ionic Framework               : @ionic/angular 6.0.11
   @angular-devkit/build-angular : 13.2.6
   @angular-devkit/schematics    : 13.2.6
   @angular/cli                  : 13.2.6
   @ionic/angular-toolkit        : 6.1.0

Cordova:

   Cordova CLI       : 11.0.0
   Cordova Platforms : android 10.1.1
   Cordova Plugins   : cordova-plugin-ionic-keyboard 2.2.0, cordova-plugin-ionic-webview 5.0.0, (and 3 other plugins)

Utility:

   cordova-res : 0.15.4
   native-run  : 1.5.0

System:

   Android SDK Tools : 26.1.1 (C:\Users\moalasmar\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk)
   NodeJS            : v16.14.0 (C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe)
   npm               : 8.5.4
   OS                : Windows 10

Additional Information

No response

[raghav14]

For me it got resolved only by just running ng add @ionic/cordova-builders. No need to change the ionic.config.json. I’m using ionic/cli@5.4.16 and cordova 10. Thanks for the help everyone.

[liamdebeasi]

Ionic CLI v6.19.0 has been released with this fix:

npm install -g @ionic/cli@latest