esm-sync

This is a fork of esm: the brilliantly simple, babel-less, bundle-less ECMAScript module loader (which is now unmaintained).

This fork includes:

• Assorted updates from @httptoolkit/esm and esm-wallaby fork, adding support for ES modules containing new ES syntax, supporting modern Node versions (at least up to v22), and supporting node:* imports.
• Support for modules that use the const require = createRequire(...) pattern (or declare any other global require variable) which are otherwise unusable with esm.
• Support for modules that use only an exports map in their package.json, without a main field, which are otherwise unresolvable (reporting "Cannot find module", even though import() works correctly).
• Built-in types for use in TypeScript projects

This package is maintained for use in the import-sync project.

You may also be interested in jiti, which provides legacy (deprecated, but still reliable) support for synchronous imports.

Install

npm install esm-sync

Getting started

There are two ways to enable esm-sync.

1. Enable esm-sync for packages:

   Use esm-sync to load the main ES module and export it as CommonJS.

   index.js

   // Set options as a parameter, environment variable, or rc file.
   require = require("esm-sync")(module/*, options*/)
   module.exports = require("./main.js")

   main.js

   // ESM syntax is supported.
   export {}

2. Enable esm-sync for local runs:

   node -r esm-sync main.js

   💡 Omit the filename to enable esm-sync in the REPL.

Features

👏 By default, 💯 percent CJS interoperability is enabled so you can get stuff done.
🔒 .mjs files are limited to basic functionality without support for esm-sync options.

Out of the box esm-sync just works, no configuration necessary, and supports:

• Passing all applicable test262 compliance tests
• import/export
• import.meta
• Dynamic import
• Live bindings
• File URI scheme
• Node stdin, --eval, --print flags
• Node --check flag (Node 10+)

Options

Specify options with one of the following:

• "esm" field in package.json
• CJS/ESM in an .esmrc.js, .esmrc.cjs, or .esmrc.mjs file
• JSON6 in an .esmrc or .esmrc.json file
• JSON6 or file path in the ESM_OPTIONS environment variable
• ESM_DISABLE_CACHE environment variable

{
"cjs":true	A boolean or object for toggling CJS features in ESM. Features { "cache":true A boolean for storing ES modules in require.cache. "esModule":true A boolean for __esModule interoperability. "extensions":true A boolean for respecting require.extensions in ESM. "mutableNamespace":true A boolean for mutable namespace objects. "namedExports":true A boolean for importing named exports of CJS modules. "paths":true A boolean for following CJS path rules in ESM. "vars":true A boolean for __dirname, __filename, and require in ESM. "dedefault":false A boolean for requiring ES modules without the dangling require().default. "topLevelReturn":false A boolean for top-level return support. }
"mainFields":["main"]	An array of fields checked when importing a package.
"mode":"auto"	A string mode: "auto" detect files with import, import.meta, export, "use module", or .mjs as ESM. "all" files besides those with "use script" or .cjs are treated as ESM. "strict" to treat only .mjs files as ESM.
"await":false	A boolean for top-level await in modules without ESM exports. (Node 10+)
"force":false	A boolean to apply these options to all module loads.
"wasm":false	A boolean for WebAssembly module support. (Node 8+)
}

DevOpts

{
"cache":true	A boolean for toggling cache creation or a cache directory path.
"sourceMap":false	A boolean for including inline source maps.
}

Tips

Bundling

• For bundlers like browserify+esmify, parcel-bundler, and webpack add a "module" field to package.json pointing to the main ES module.

  "main": "index.js",
  "module": "main.js"

  💡 This is automagically done with npm init esm or yarn create esm.

Extensions

• Enable esm-sync for wallaby.js following their integration example.

Loading

• Load esm-sync before loaders/monitors like @babel/register, newrelic, sqreen, and ts-node.

• Load esm-sync for jasmine using the "helpers" field in jasmine.json:

  "helpers": [
    "node_modules/esm-sync"
  ]

• Load esm-sync with “node-args" options of:
  

  • pm2: --node-args="-r esm-sync"

• Load esm-sync with “require” options of ava, mocha, nodemon, nyc, qunit, tape, and webpack.

  💡 Builtin require cannot sideload .mjs files. However, .js files can be sideloaded or .mjs files may be loaded with dynamic import.