./bin/dev.js throws ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION on Node 20

[bader-nasser]

After cloning the project and installing the deps using pnpm, running node ./bin/dev.js help does not show the commands!

Also, when I change any thing in the commands (e.g. description) and run node ./bin/dev.js help hello, I don't get the new values.

[git2gus]

Git2Gus App is installed but the .git2gus/config.json doesn't exist.

[mdonnalley]

@bader-nasser Both issues are due to using node. The dev script depends on ts-node to transpile the project at runtime (https://github.com/oclif/hello-world-esm/blob/main/bin/dev.js#L1). But by specifying node you're telling the script to ignore the ts-node shebang at the top of the file and use node instead.

[bader-nasser]

@mdonnalley I added these scripts and used them with @oclif/core v3 & v2

    "dev": "ts-node ./bin/dev.js",
    "dev2": "./bin/dev.js",

but still nothing is working!

[mdonnalley]

@bader-nasser my bad - I forgot that support for auto-transpiling local plugins hasn't been merged yet. It's being added in this PR: #779

In the meantime, you'll need to compile your changes first before executing the plugin.

Also important to note that auto-transpiling ESM plugins will only be supported when developing the plugin from the plugin directory. In other words, bin/dev.js will auto-transpile but if you were to link the plugin to another plugin, it will not work. More context here.

[bader-nasser]

For the time being I switched back to v2 and I may wait a lil' bit before using v3 again! Thank you.

[bader-nasser]

@mdonnalley I upgraded to latest deps and found the dev bin. is working with:

#!/usr/bin/env -S node --loader ts-node/esm --no-warnings=ExperimentalWarning

not:

#!/usr/bin/env ts-node

and I don't know why!

I run it using npm script: "app-dev": "./bin/dev.js",

https://github.com/bader-nasser/pdftools/blob/main/bin/dev.js

[mdonnalley]

@bader-nasser can you elaborate on what you're seeing? I just checked out your repo, ran pnpm install, updated the bin/dev.js script to use ts-node and it seems like everything is working as expected

[bader-nasser]

@mdonnalley It works with node 18 and causes an error with node 20!

I used pnpm with and without the following in .npmrc:

shamefully-hoist = true
public-hoist-pattern[]=*

as well as using npm and got the following error when using ts-node in the shebang:

$ npm run app-dev -- e -h # and pnpm app-dev e -h
(node:31017) [ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION] TypeError Plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools: Unknown file extension ".ts" for .../src/commands/compress/index.ts
module: @oclif/core@3.0.4
task: cacheCommand
plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools
root: .../pdftools
See more details with DEBUG=*
(Use `node --trace-warnings ...` to show where the warning was created)
(node:31017) [ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION] TypeError Plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools: Unknown file extension ".ts" for .../src/commands/convert/index.ts
module: @oclif/core@3.0.4
task: cacheCommand
plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools
root: .../pdftools
See more details with DEBUG=*
(node:31017) [ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION] TypeError Plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools: Unknown file extension ".ts" for .../src/commands/extract/index.ts
module: @oclif/core@3.0.4
task: cacheCommand
plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools
root: .../pdftools
See more details with DEBUG=*
(node:31017) [ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION] TypeError Plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools: Unknown file extension ".ts" for .../src/commands/merge/index.ts
module: @oclif/core@3.0.4
task: cacheCommand
plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools
root: .../pdftools
See more details with DEBUG=*
(node:31017) [ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION] TypeError Plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools: Unknown file extension ".ts" for .../src/commands/process/index.ts
module: @oclif/core@3.0.4
task: cacheCommand
plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools
root: .../pdftools
See more details with DEBUG=*
(node:31017) [ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION] TypeError Plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools: Unknown file extension ".ts" for .../src/commands/repair/index.ts
module: @oclif/core@3.0.4
task: cacheCommand
plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools
root: .../pdftools
See more details with DEBUG=*
(node:31017) [ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION] TypeError Plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools: Unknown file extension ".ts" for .../src/commands/uncompress/index.ts
module: @oclif/core@3.0.4
task: cacheCommand
plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools
root: .../pdftools
See more details with DEBUG=*
(node:31017) [ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION] TypeError Plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools: Unknown file extension ".ts" for .../src/commands/update-metadata/index.ts
module: @oclif/core@3.0.4
task: cacheCommand
plugin: @bader-nasser/pdftools
root: .../pdftools
See more details with DEBUG=*
Error: Command e not found.
    at error (.../node_modules/@oclif/core/lib/errors/index.js:26:15)
    at HelpClass.showHelp (.../node_modules/@oclif/core/lib/help/index.js:221:28)
    at run (.../node_modules/@oclif/core/lib/main.js:68:20)
    at async file:///.../bin/dev.js:4:1

[git2gus]

This issue has been linked to a new work item: W-14270164

[mdonnalley]

@bader-nasser I transferred this issue to @oclif/core since this issue will be more visible to others here.

It seems that node 20 introduced a breaking change to the ESM loader hooks, which affects ts-node's ability to transpile ESM code.

Custom ESM loader hooks run on dedicated thread
ESM hooks supplied via loaders (--experimental-loader=foo.mjs) now run in a dedicated thread, isolated from the main thread. This provides a separate scope for loaders and ensures no cross-contamination between loaders and application code.

Source

ts-node issue: TypeStrong/ts-node#1997

Obviously, there's not much we can do on the oclif side to fix this. The best we'll be able to do is provide a better error message and provide a couple workarounds:

Workarounds

• Downgrade to Node 19 or older
• Replace ts-node in bin/dev.js with #!/usr/bin/env -S node --loader ts-node/esm --no-warnings=ExperimentalWarning

[bader-nasser]

great. I'm glad that the root issue is identified.