deno compile cannot resolve npm modules

[cb-fred]

It seems that deno compile has trouble compiling scripts using npm modules.

Given the following script:

// main.ts
import express from "npm:express@4.18";
const app = express();

app.get("/", function (req, res) {
  res.send("Hello World");
});

app.listen(3000);
console.log("listening on http://localhost:3000/");

When I do

deno compile main.ts

I get the following error:

Check file:///Users/fred/Code/Own/deno/main.ts
error: Uncaught Error: could not find npm package directory for 'express@4.18'
    at <anonymous> (deno:cli/tsc/99_main_compiler.js:616:28)

I use the following deno version:

deno 1.28.0 (release, aarch64-apple-darwin)
v8 10.9.194.1
typescript 4.8.3

On OSX version 12.6

Using deno run on the same script works, as does deno compile for scripts that do not use npm packages.

The error also happens when using npm packages other than express

[bartlomieju]

As per #15960 it's not yet supported

[cb-fred]

Ah, indeed, seems I overlooked that part in the release notes 😅

In any case, congrats and thanks for this release 👍

[dsherret]

It was a bug that it didn't give you a nice error message explaining this. That will be fixed in #16637.

[NetOpWibby]

Hijacking this because while I'm not having issues compiling, my app doesn't run.

deno compile --allow-env --allow-net --allow-read --unstable main.ts

# output
Check file:///~/main.ts
Compile file:///~/main.ts
Emit pastry-server

And then

./pastry-server

# output
error: Module not found

The error message is not helpful, so I searched the Deno Discord, which led me to this issue. I do have an npm module in my project.

import * as packet from "npm:dns-packet@5.4.0";

Guess I'll just keep an eye on this issue and pause that aspect of my project for now.

EDIT: I actually fixed my issue. Turns out, import_map.json doesn't work with compiled apps. At least not with designing your own shortcuts aside from "/": "./" and "./": "./".

[royalknight56]

Hope this issue will be resolved

[chrisbrocklesby]

+1 for npm support in Deno compile.

[dingiyan]

+1 I'm looking forward to this feature.

[sshwy]

+1 looking forward to this feature.

[bartlomieju]

@dsherret is working on this feature.

[lino-levan]

@bartlomieju considering deno compile is now (or soon to be?) deprecated, should this issue remain open?

[dsherret]

@lino-levan no, deno compile is not going anywhere. I think you’re thinking of deno bundle.

[lino-levan]

Ah, sorry I misread this issue 😅

[johnstonmatt]

this one is important for my team working on polyseam/cndi, thanks for looking into this!

[dsherret]

I started actual work on this one yesterday. Just doing the preliminary refactors to make it easier.

[Hillsie]

@cb-fred I was a hanging out for this feature until trying out esm.sh for the imports and was glad to see that it compiles. The compile feature being very useful for a project I'm doing. Deno ❤️

[Hillsie]

Okay, need to eat my hat. Want to get @apollo/server@4.6.0 up and running with express. Easy port for my knowledge level. I could write this all out first principals. Can't find apollo server on esm.sh. It's only on npm 😞 . Back to hanging out for this feature.
esm.sh 💔 but still Deno ❤️ Just a little challenging. The compile feature is awesome to ship code in a docker container.

[Creative-Difficulty]

@Hillsie same

[nabil-mansouri]

+1 looking for this feature! thank you very much guys