Visual companion server.js fails on Node.js v25+ (ESM/CommonJS conflict)

[reinaldoluckman]

Bug Description

The brainstorming visual companion server fails to start on Node.js v25+ with:

ReferenceError: require is not defined in ES module scope, you can use import instead
This file is being treated as an ES module because it has a '.js' file extension and
'.../superpowers/5.0.4/package.json' contains "type": "module".

Root Cause

skills/brainstorming/scripts/server.js uses CommonJS (require()), but the root package.json declares "type": "module". Node.js v25 enforces this strictly — all .js files under a "type": "module" package are treated as ESM, causing require() to throw.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Have Node.js v25+ installed
2. Start a brainstorming session that triggers the visual companion
3. Server fails with the error above

Fix

Rename server.js → server.cjs and update the two node server.js invocations in start-server.sh to node server.cjs. The .cjs extension forces CommonJS mode regardless of the package.json type field.

Alternatively, the server script could be rewritten to use ESM imports.

Environment

• Node.js: v25.8.1
• Superpowers: v5.0.4
• Platform: macOS (Darwin 25.3.0)

[obra]

Fixed by renaming server.js → server.cjs so Node.js treats the brainstorming server as CommonJS regardless of the root package.json "type": "module" setting. Cherry-picked from PR #784 by @sarbojitrana to the dev branch. Thanks @reinaldoluckman for reporting!