ERR_REQUIRE_ESM when using Node.js ESM in tandem with TypeScript config (commitlint.config.ts)

[shian15810]

// package.json
{
  "type": "module"
}

// tsconfig.json
{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "node16"
  }
}

Expected Behavior

With the given setup above, executing npx commitlint --to HEAD should not result in ERR_REQUIRE_ESM error.

Current Behavior

Currently, the above setup is giving the following output:

./node_modules/ts-node/dist-raw/node-internal-errors.js:46
  const err = new Error(getErrRequireEsmMessage(filename, parentPath, packageJsonPath))
              ^
Error [ERR_REQUIRE_ESM]: Must use import to load ES Module: ./commitlint.config.ts
require() of ES modules is not supported.
require() of ./commitlint.config.ts from ./node_modules/cosmiconfig-typescript-loader/dist/loader.js is an ES module file as it is a .ts file whose nearest parent package.json contains "type": "module" which defines all .ts files in that package scope as ES modules.
Instead change the requiring code to use import(), or remove "type": "module" from ./package.json.

    at createErrRequireEsm (./node_modules/ts-node/dist-raw/node-internal-errors.js:46:15)
    at assertScriptCanLoadAsCJSImpl (./node_modules/ts-node/dist-raw/node-internal-modules-cjs-loader.js:584:11)
    at Object.require.extensions.<computed> [as .ts] (./node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:1589:5)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:988:32)
    at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:834:12)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1012:19)
    at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:102:18)
    at loader (./node_modules/cosmiconfig-typescript-loader/dist/loader.js:12:28)
    at Explorer.loadFileContent (./node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:81:32)
    at Explorer.createCosmiconfigResult (./node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:89:36) {
  name: 'TypeScriptCompileError'
}

Affected packages

• [x] cli
• [ ] core
• [ ] prompt
• [ ] config-angular

Possible Solution

1. Support commitlint.config.cts, or
2. Use import() to load config

Steps to Reproduce (for bugs)

1. First step: Minimal setup of commitlint according to the official documentation with package.json and tsconfig.json supplied above.
2. Second step: Run npx commitlint --to HEAD.

commitlint.config.ts

import type { UserConfig } from "@commitlint/types";

const config: UserConfig = {
  extends: ["@commitlint/config-conventional"],
};

export default config;

Context

Without touching tsconfig.json, if I remove "type": "module" from package.json, npx commitlint --to HEAD can be executed successfully.

But this is not plausible since I have migrated the whole repository to Node.js ESM since the release of TypeScript 4.7 officially supporting it.

Raising this issue as people with similar setup will encounter this as well.

Currently resorted to using commitlint.config.cjs, but still prefer to have commitlint.config.ts in the long run.

Your Environment

Executable	Version
commitlint --version	17.0.2
git --version	2.36.1
node --version	18.4.0

[escapedcat]

Thanks for raising this

[erayaydin]

Same problem and I'm agree with @shian15810 's described context.

Executable	Version
commitlint	17.0.3
git	2.36.1
node	18.3.0

I also prefer ts extension for configure commitlint.

[jjbell150]

We also have the same issue after migrating to ESM, can confirm that renaming commitlint.config.js to commitlint.config.cjs works as a temporary fix

[Mnigos]

same issue here

[ZerdoX-x]

Renaming commitlint.config.ts to commitlint.config.cts doesn't work in my case:

/Users/user/path/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/ExplorerBase.ts:109
      throw new Error(
            ^
Error: No loader specified for extension ".cts"
    at Explorer.getLoaderEntryForFile (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/ExplorerBase.ts:109:13)
    at Explorer.loadFileContent (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:80:25)
    at Explorer.createCosmiconfigResult (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:89:36)
    at runLoad (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:104:33)
    at async cacheWrapper (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/cacheWrapper.ts:13:18)
    at async loadConfig (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/@[email protected]/node_modules/@commitlint/load/src/utils/load-config.ts:42:16)
    at async load (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/@[email protected]/node_modules/@commitlint/load/src/load.ts:25:17)
    at async main (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/@[email protected]/node_modules/@commitlint/cli/src/cli.ts:214:17)
husky - commit-msg hook exited with code 1 (error)

So currently commitlint doesn't support .(ts|cts|mts|js|mjs) configs...

[escapedcat]

#3461 might help. It was just merged but not yet released.

[SalahAdDin]

"ts-node": { "esm": true },

It didn't work for me.

This is my case, it is not a direct dependency, it is a commitlint dependency, and testing the package from CLI I'm getting the bug:

 echo "[PAP-2013] feat(lang): :arrow_up: add Polish language" | pnpm commit    

> [email protected] commit /home/luisalaguna/Projects/react-ts-vite-template
> commitlint

/home/luisalaguna/Projects/react-ts-vite-template/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]_xplfzyzpegygk3axf4z63vz544/node_modules/ts-node/dist-raw/node-internal-errors.js:46
  const err = new Error(getErrRequireEsmMessage(filename, parentPath, packageJsonPath))
              ^
Error [ERR_REQUIRE_ESM]: Must use import to load ES Module: /home/luisalaguna/Projects/react-ts-vite-template/commitlint.config.ts
require() of ES modules is not supported.
require() of /home/luisalaguna/Projects/react-ts-vite-template/commitlint.config.ts from /home/luisalaguna/Projects/react-ts-vite-template/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]_or2qrscwofpw4jwfbychkdzroy/node_modules/cosmiconfig-typescript-loader/dist/cjs/index.js is an ES module file as it is a .ts file whose nearest parent package.json contains "type": "module" which defines all .ts files in that package scope as ES modules.
Instead change the requiring code to use import(), or remove "type": "module" from /home/luisalaguna/Projects/react-ts-vite-template/package.json.

    at createErrRequireEsm (/home/luisalaguna/Projects/react-ts-vite-template/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]_xplfzyzpegygk3axf4z63vz544/node_modules/ts-node/dist-raw/node-internal-errors.js:46:15)
    at assertScriptCanLoadAsCJSImpl (/home/luisalaguna/Projects/react-ts-vite-template/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]_xplfzyzpegygk3axf4z63vz544/node_modules/ts-node/dist-raw/node-internal-modules-cjs-loader.js:584:11)
    at Object.require.extensions.<computed> [as .ts] (/home/luisalaguna/Projects/react-ts-vite-template/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]_xplfzyzpegygk3axf4z63vz544/node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:1610:5)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1037:32)
    at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:878:12)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1061:19)
    at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:103:18)
    at loader (/home/luisalaguna/Projects/react-ts-vite-template/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]_or2qrscwofpw4jwfbychkdzroy/node_modules/cosmiconfig-typescript-loader/dist/cjs/index.js:59:22)
    at Explorer.loadFileContent (/home/luisalaguna/Projects/react-ts-vite-template/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:81:32)
    at Explorer.createCosmiconfigResult (/home/luisalaguna/Projects/react-ts-vite-template/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:89:36) {
  name: 'TypeScriptCompileError'
}
 ELIFECYCLE  Command failed with exit code 1.

Renaming commitlint.config.ts to commitlint.config.cts doesn't work in my case:

/Users/user/path/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/ExplorerBase.ts:109
      throw new Error(
            ^
Error: No loader specified for extension ".cts"
    at Explorer.getLoaderEntryForFile (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/ExplorerBase.ts:109:13)
    at Explorer.loadFileContent (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:80:25)
    at Explorer.createCosmiconfigResult (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:89:36)
    at runLoad (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:104:33)
    at async cacheWrapper (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/cacheWrapper.ts:13:18)
    at async loadConfig (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/@[email protected]/node_modules/@commitlint/load/src/utils/load-config.ts:42:16)
    at async load (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/@[email protected]/node_modules/@commitlint/load/src/load.ts:25:17)
    at async main (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/@[email protected]/node_modules/@commitlint/cli/src/cli.ts:214:17)
husky - commit-msg hook exited with code 1 (error)

So currently commitlint doesn't support .(ts|cts|mts|js|mjs) configs...

Neither to me.

It seems to be a bug related to ts-node, and it seems to be unsolved yet, right now I had to remove "type": "module" from package.json, but It should not be necessary.

Is there any development on this?

#3461 might help. It was just merged but not yet released. It would be pretty enough!

Thank you!

[SalahAdDin]

#3461 might help. It was just merged but not yet released.

At least for me, It solved the problem.

[escapedcat]

@SalahAdDin Thanks for your feedback. Let's close this for now.

[DamianGlowala]

The issue persists, not sure why this got closed. Adding support for .cjs is a different concern and not a solution to what this issue describes.

I have a commitlint.config.ts file with package.json containing "type": "module" and receive the exact error mentioned by the author.

(Renaming file to commitlint.config.cts works fine.)

[ZerdoX-x]

Yep. Thanks for raising this up. I would also like commitlint to respect "type": "module" I set without switching from default .js/.ts extension.

[escapedcat]

Happy for a PR

[alextnetto]

I changed module.exports = to export default and it worked for me.

[ZerdoX-x]

@Alextnetto can confirm that @commitlint/[email protected]

with following contents of commitlint.config.ts

import type { UserConfig } from "@commitlint/types";

const config: UserConfig = {
	extends: ["@commitlint/config-conventional"],
};

export default config;

still throws an error:

/project/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]_@[email protected][email protected]/node_modules/ts-node/dist-raw/node-internal-errors.js:46
  const err = new Error(getErrRequireEsmMessage(filename, parentPath, packageJsonPath))
              ^
Error [ERR_REQUIRE_ESM]: Must use import to load ES Module: /project/commitlint.config.ts
require() of ES modules is not supported.
require() of /home/zerdox/projects/job/imi/tonna_company-profile/commitlint.config.ts from /project/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]_@[email protected][email protected][email protected][email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig-typescript-loader/dist/cjs/index.js is an ES module file as it is a .ts file whose nearest parent package.json contains "type": "module" which defines all .ts files in that package scope as ES modules.
Instead change the requiring code to use import(), or remove "type": "module" from /project/package.json.

    at createErrRequireEsm (/project/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]_@[email protected][email protected]/node_modules/ts-node/dist-raw/node-internal-errors.js:46:15)
    at assertScriptCanLoadAsCJSImpl (/projects/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]_@[email protected][email protected]/node_modules/ts-node/dist-raw/node-internal-modules-cjs-loader.js:584:11)
    at Object.require.extensions.<computed> [as .ts] (/project/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]_@[email protected][email protected]/node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:1610:5)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1119:32)
    at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:960:12)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1143:19)
    at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:119:18)
    at /projects/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]_@[email protected][email protected][email protected][email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig-typescript-loader/dist/cjs/index.js:59:22
    at Explorer.#loadConfiguration (/project/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected][email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:113:22)
    at Explorer.#readConfiguration (/projects/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected][email protected]/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:85:36) {
  name: '_TypeScriptCompileError',
  filepath: '/project/commitlint.config.ts'
}

Though I tried .js file with no types in ESM format and it worked just fine. By looking at previous error I cannot say that this is error caused by commitlint. Now I am not sure what is the state of this issue :thinking:

---

The issue persists, not sure why this got closed. Adding support for .cjs is a different concern and not a solution to what this issue describes.

@DamianGlowala can you confirm that now commitlint .js config with ESM "just works"?

---

Maybe it's issue with cosmic config or ts loader itself? From where this difference between .ts and .js occurs? I wish I had some time to experiment with cosmiconfig.

UPD: Oh.. this is probably related to already mentioned https://github.com/TypeStrong/ts-node/issues/1007 issue. So.. This can be closed now? @escapedcat what do you think?

[escapedcat]

@ZerdoX-x thanks for digging and confirming. If there's nothing we can do on our side we could close this again.

[ZerdoX-x]

I think yes, this can be closed, no response from other guys within a week. I am sure it's blocked by ts-node issue mentioned above

@escapedcat

[alextnetto]

@ZerdoX-x For .js you can use this on the config file.

export default { extends: ['@commitlint/config-conventional'] };

For me, it worked fine after that.

[ZerdoX-x]

@Alextnetto yep, I know. but originally the issue about .ts file.

Personally using

// @ts-check

/* TODO: migrate from .js to .ts when
 * https://github.com/TypeStrong/ts-node/issues/1007
 * gets resolved.
 */

/** @typedef { import("@commitlint/types").UserConfig } */
export default {
	extends: ["@commitlint/config-conventional"],
};

.ts issue still exists but commitlint and cosmiconfig just require ts-node issue mentioned above to be resolved

[newives]

may be related to this https://github.com/cosmiconfig/cosmiconfig/issues/312

[pauliesnug]

may be related to this cosmiconfig/cosmiconfig#312

@newives yes, i got this same error and the issue is cosmiconfig since it require()s the config, the craetor says it will be fixed so commitlint needs to update it once its fixed.

[pauliesnug]

for now, we can just set a package resolution override to "cosmiconfig": "9.0.0-alpha.3"

[newives]

https://github.com/stylelint/stylelint/pull/7329 seems to have fixed the problem. I don’t know if it helps.

[joberstein]

Is this still an error with [email protected]? ts-node was removed as a dependency with: https://github.com/conventional-changelog/commitlint/compare/v18.1.0...v18.2.0

[newives]

It is estimated that https://github.com/conventional-changelog/commitlint/pull/3776 has been fixed. If possible, publish a version so I can test it.

[escapedcat]

https://github.com/conventional-changelog/commitlint/releases/tag/v18.4.2

[newives]

@joberstein Very nicely done❤️ I tested commitlint.config files ending with .js and .ts and using the esm syntax export default {} and they all worked fine

[pauliesnug]

Thank you very much!

[masabbasi]

I changed module.exports = to export default and it worked for me.

Thankful. It worked for me.