tsconfig-paths Cannot Find Module

It seems my module paths do not get resolved correctly when using node or ts-node

src/index.ts

import cleanup from 'node-cleanup';
import ArimaClient from '@client/ArimaClient';

// ...

tsconfig.json

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2019",
    "lib": ["ES2019"],
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "module": "commonjs",
    "strict": true,
    "alwaysStrict": true,
    "useDefineForClassFields": true,
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "resolveJsonModule": true,
    "sourceMap": true,
    "inlineSources": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "removeComments": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "outDir": "dist/",
    "typeRoots": ["node_modules/@types", "src/typings"],
    "paths": {
      "@root/*": ["src/*"],
      "@client/*": ["src/lib/client/*"],
      "@database/*": ["src/lib/database/*"],
      "@structures/*": ["src/lib/structures/*"],
      "@structures": ["src/lib/structures"],
      "@utils/*": ["src/lib/utils/*"],
      "@utils": ["src/lib/utils"]
    }
  },
  "include": ["src"]
}

Scripts (I get the same error for both)

ts-node --files src/index.ts -r dotenv/config -r tsconfig-paths/register NODE_ENV=dev

tsc && node -r dotenv/config -r tsconfig-paths/register .

Error

internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:883
  throw err;
  ^

Error: Cannot find module '@client/ArimaClient'
Require stack:
- C:\Users\me\OneDrive\Desktop\Arima\dist\index.js
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:880:15)
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (C:\Users\me\OneDrive\Desktop\Arima\node_modules\tsconfig-paths\lib\register.js:75:40)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:725:27)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:952:19)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:88:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\me\OneDrive\Desktop\Arima\dist\index.js:7:39)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1063:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1092:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:928:32)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:769:14) {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: [ 'C:\\Users\\me\\OneDrive\\Desktop\\Arima\\dist\\index.js' ]
}

Feb 06 '21 21:02 Lioness100

+1 same problem

May 17 '21 12:05 lixaotec

It looks like you are having the same problem that I'm currently having with this. What seems to be happening is that tsconfig-paths is looking at tsconfig.json's baseUrl but not taking outDir into consideration. I found this by manually editing the register function in node_modules/tsconfig-paths/lib/register.js so that it would log some debug info when trying to resolve my path mappings like this:

register.js

/**
 * Installs a custom module load function that can adhere to paths in tsconfig.
 * Returns a function to undo paths registration.
 */
function register(explicitParams) {
    // ...
    Module._resolveFilename = function (request, _parent) {
        var isCoreModule = coreModules.hasOwnProperty(request);
        if (!isCoreModule) {
            // DEBUG ___________________________
            if (request.indexOf('@src') === 0) {
              console.log(`_resolveFilename handling '${request}', configLoaderResult =`, configLoaderResult);
            }
            // DEBUG ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
            var found = matchPath(request);
            if (found) {
                var modifiedArguments = [found].concat([].slice.call(arguments, 1)); // Passes all arguments. Even those that is not specified above.
                // tslint:disable-next-line:no-invalid-this
                return originalResolveFilename.apply(this, modifiedArguments);
            }
        }
        // tslint:disable-next-line:no-invalid-this
        return originalResolveFilename.apply(this, arguments);
    };
    return function () {
        // Return node's module loading to original state.
        Module._resolveFilename = originalResolveFilename;
    };
}

The output from here was like this (build is what I've specified for outDir):

Failure shown in output

_resolveFilename handling '@src/util', configLoaderResult = {
  resultType: 'success',
  configFileAbsolutePath: 'C:\\project_root\\tsconfig.json',
  baseUrl: '.',
  absoluteBaseUrl: 'C:\\project_root',
  paths: { '@src/*': [ 'src/*' ] }
}
internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:883
  throw err;
  ^

Error: Cannot find module '@src/util'
Require stack:
- C:\project_root\build\src\foo.js
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:880:15)
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (C:\project_root\node_modules\tsconfig-paths\lib\register.js:78:40)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:725:27)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:952:19)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:88:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\project_root\build\src\foo.js:22:16)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1063:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1092:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:928:32)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:769:14) {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: [
    'C:\\project_root\\build\\src\\foo.js'
  ]
}

If I change baseUrl to match outDir (i.e. build for my example, dist for OP) after running tsc then tsconfig-paths gets it right. In my opinion, this is a bug, but it is possible to work around by adapting the "Bootstrapping with explicit params" example in the README.md.

What I did to make it work was replace node -r tsconfig-paths/register ... with node -r ./register-paths.js ... (and create register-paths.js as shown below). Basically this tells tsconfig-paths a different baseUrl that incorporates outDir.

`register-paths.js`

const path = require('path');
const tsConfig = require('./tsconfig.json');
const tsConfigPaths = require('tsconfig-paths');

const baseUrl = tsConfig.compilerOptions.baseUrl || '.';
const outDir = tsConfig.compilerOptions.outDir || '.';
const explicitParams = {
  baseUrl: path.resolve(baseUrl, outDir),
  paths: tsConfig.compilerOptions.paths,
};
const cleanup = tsConfigPaths.register(explicitParams);

// TODO: clean-up when path registration is no longer needed
//cleanup();

May 19 '21 21:05 jacobq

You can specify correct main in package.json

Jul 27 '21 06:07 zyf0330

+1 same problem

Another solution is defining a custom tsconfig file containing as baseUrl the out directory. This custom file must also contain the paths defined in the tsconfig file used for file emission. Only compilerOptions.baseUrl and compilerOptions.paths have to be defined. Those paths not being emitted (as directories containing tests or types) can be omitted.

Then this custom file (let's say it is called tsconfig-paths.json) can be set as the value of the env var TS_NODE_PROJECT just for the package.json run script in this way:

// package.json file
{
    "scripts": {
        "run": "TS_NODE_PROJECT=tsconfig-paths.json node -r tsconfig-paths/register dist/index.js",
    }
}

Aug 31 '21 14:08 vgavara

I have the same problem, based on the readme, I though setting TS_NODE_BASEURL should be the solution, but this has also no effect for me.

Nov 30 '21 17:11 JarnoRFB

@JarnoRFB yes, TS_NODE_BASEURL seems useless

Dec 03 '21 18:12 ardyfeb

Actually I got it to work now using TS_NODE_BASEURL. I have a layout like

src/
  myscript.ts
  mymodule.ts
tsconfig.json

and im my tsconfig.json

"compilerOptions": {
    "outDir": "dist",
    "baseUrl": "src",
    "paths": {
      "@/*": ["./*"]
    },
  },
  "include": [
    "src"
  ],

Now when I put a script in my package.json like so

"scripts": {
    "myscript": "tsc --module 'CommonJS' && TS_NODE_BASEURL=./dist node -r tsconfig-paths/register dist/myscript.js",
}

I can run it with npm run myscript just fine with "@/mymodule" imports.

What didn't work before was when I had baseUrl and paths switched in tsconfig.json like

    "baseUrl": "./",
    "paths": {
      "@/*": ["./src"]
    },

Dec 04 '21 10:12 JarnoRFB

Actually I got it to work now using TS_NODE_BASEURL. I have a layout like
src/
  myscript.ts
  mymodule.ts
tsconfig.json
and im my tsconfig.json
"compilerOptions": {
    "outDir": "lib",
    "baseUrl": "src",
    "paths": {
      "@/*": ["./*"]
    },
  },
  "include": [
    "src"
  ],
Now when I put a script in my package.json like so
"scripts": {
    "myscript": "tsc --module 'CommonJS' && TS_NODE_BASEURL=./dist node -r tsconfig-paths/register dist/myscript.js",
}
I can run it with npm run myscript just fine with "@/mymodule" imports.

What didn't work before was when I had baseUrl and paths switched in tsconfig.json like
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "paths": {
      "@/*": ["./src"]
    },

What you share still doesn't work for me.

Jan 25 '22 09:01 afonsomatos

@afonsomatos Forgot to change outdir it was still set to lib instead of dist. Fixed it now, let me know if this helps.

Jan 25 '22 10:01 JarnoRFB

Any official patch for this instead of some hacky workaround?

Feb 04 '22 02:02 flleeppyy

Oh nevermind this package looks dead.

Feb 04 '22 02:02 flleeppyy

I gave up after a while getting it working in production, using either ts-node or plain node or any other method.

I feel I found a nice solution though with using tscpaths. Which replaces the shornted paths in the dist folder at build time.

https://www.npmjs.com/package/tscpaths

package.json:

   "build": "tsc --project tsconfig.json && tscpaths -p tsconfig.json -s ./src -o ./dist",

    "dev": "nodemon -r tsconfig-paths/register src/index.ts dev",

Dockerfile:

RUN npm i
....
RUN npm run build
...
CMD [ "node", "dist/index.js" ]

Hope this helps

Mar 15 '22 13:03 Adam1901

+1 this package is useless I think, time to find a different solution

EDIT: This package seems to work good for my use case https://github.com/justkey007/tsc-alias

May 04 '22 20:05 lbittner-pdftron

I ended up just using native paths with esm

May 04 '22 20:05 Lioness100

I gave up after a while getting it working in production, using either ts-node or plain node or any other method.

I feel I found a nice solution though with using tscpaths. Which replaces the shornted paths in the dist folder at build time.

https://www.npmjs.com/package/tscpaths

package.json:
   "build": "tsc --project tsconfig.json && tscpaths -p tsconfig.json -s ./src -o ./dist",

    "dev": "nodemon -r tsconfig-paths/register src/index.ts dev", 
Dockerfile:
RUN npm i
....
RUN npm run build
...
CMD [ "node", "dist/index.js" ]
Hope this helps

This package hasn't been updated since May 2019. I got it to work with my setup with some small configuration adjustments (I needed to set the output path to ./build/src instead of ./build).

However I suggest that people use the package @lbittner-pdftron mentioned (thanks for the tip!) as it's still being maintained and I got that to work with 0 configuration. Just add && tsc-alias -p tsconfig.json to your tsc build script and it should work. Your mileage may vary depending on how complex your project is.

Aug 13 '22 16:08 voinik

well, after suffering a few hours, I got a solution I have used the ts-node package, and I got the same error Error: Cannot find module '@modules/logger'

You need to add ts-node configuration in the tsconfig.json file. You can get more infor at ts-node

{
    "ts-node": {
        // Do not forget to `npm i -D tsconfig-paths`
        "require": ["tsconfig-paths/register"]
    },
    "compilerOptions": {
        "lib": ["es5", "es6", "es7"],
        "target": "es2017",
        "module": "commonjs",
        "moduleResolution": "node",
        "rootDir": "src",
        "outDir": "build",
        "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
        "experimentalDecorators": true,
        "esModuleInterop": true,
        "noImplicitAny": true,
        "strict": true,
        "resolveJsonModule": true,
        "allowJs": true,
        "sourceMap": true,

        "baseUrl": ".",
        "paths": {
            "@modules/*": ["src/modules/*"],
            "*": ["node_modules/*"]
        },

    },
    "include": ["src/**/*"]
}

Aug 27 '22 17:08 mirajehossain

"ts-node": { // Do not forget to npm i -D tsconfig-paths "require": ["tsconfig-paths/register"] },

This doesn't work for me

Dec 08 '22 14:12 wvhulle

This doesn't work for me

Same, still seems broken.

Jan 27 '23 19:01 iandoesallthethings

This doesn't work for me

Same, still seems broken.

can you try wiith import the module-alias dependency in your entry file import 'module-alias/register';

Jan 28 '23 13:01 mirajehossain

thanx

Aug 30 '23 16:08 impuLssse

i know this is an old issue, but i recently stumbled onto it myself. I believe i found a workaround:

Relevant configuration:

directory structure:

/

/dist/src/foo/...
/dist/src/foo.js

/dist/test/foo/integration/...
/dist/test/foo/unit/...

/src/foo/...
/src/foo.ts

/test/foo/integration/...
/test/foo/unit/...

THE MAIN OFFENDER: package.json:

{
    "imports": {
        "#src/*": "./dist/src/*",
        "#test/*": "./dist/test/*"
    },
}

tsconfig.json:

{
    "include": [
        "src/**/*",
        "test/**/*"
    ],
    "exclude": [
        "node_modules/**/*",
        "dist/**/*"
    ],
    "compilerOptions": {
        "rootDir": ".",
        "outDir": "./dist",
        "baseUrl": ".",
        "paths": {
            "#src/*": [ "src/*" ],
            "#test/*": [ "test/*" ]
        },
    }
}

Problem synopsis:

tsconfig-paths/register can't handle this particular case.
ts-node uses imports: { ... } from package.json rather then paths from tsconfig.json.
if "imports": { "#src/*": "./dist/src/*" } then NODE_ENV=dev code stops working. aka ts-node, nodemon, etc stops working, because /dist/ dir by definition doesn't exist in NODE_ENV=dev mode.
if "imports": { "#src/*": "./src/*" } then NODE_ENB=prod code stops working. aka node . bc *.js files reside in /dist/src/ dir. node simply doesn't see /src/dist/**/*.js code with path aliases directed to /src/ dir. Not to mention /src/ dir is populated with *.ts files.

Workaround:

Create a 2nd package.json file in /dist/package.json:

{
    "imports": {
        "#src/*": "./src/*",
        "#test/*": "./test/*"
    },
}

Rewrite original package.json in /package.json:

{
    "imports": {
        "#src/*": "./src/*",
        "#test/*": "./test/*"
    },
}

Explanation:

NODE_ENB=dev code resides in /src/ dir as *.ts files.
NODE_ENB=prod code resides in /dist/src/ dir as *.js files.
import: { ... } in /package.json configures how ts-node will resolve path aliases in /src dir, aka the NODE_ENB=dev code.
import: { ... } in /dist/package.json configures how node will resolve path aliases in /src/dist dir, aka the NODE_ENB=prod code.

I do not know if this workaround is foolproof. I can imagine problems when trying to publish a package with multiple package.json files. But haven't tested it yet.

Please leave a like if you found this workaround helpful 🙇🙇🙇🙇

Oct 01 '23 21:10 Patryk-B