[4.2 beta] - Error: Unknown dialect undefined on `strapi().load()`

[boazpoolman]

Bug report

Describe the bug

When using the 4.2.0-beta.0 with typescript I get an error when I programatically load Strapi like this:

const strapi = require('@strapi/strapi');
// ...
const app = await strapi().load();

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. npx create-strapi-app@beta test-app-beta --ts use quickstart method
2. cd test-app-beta
3. yarn add strapi-plugin-config-sync
4. yarn config-sync diff
5. See error

Expected behavior

Strapi to load correctly

Code snippets (the error)

(node:96471) UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: Error: Unknown dialect undefined
    at getDialectClass (/Users/boazpoolman/Code/boazpoolman/strapi/test-app-beta/node_modules/@strapi/database/lib/dialects/index.js:12:13)
    at getDialect (/Users/boazpoolman/Code/boazpoolman/strapi/test-app-beta/node_modules/@strapi/database/lib/dialects/index.js:19:23)
    at new Database (/Users/boazpoolman/Code/boazpoolman/strapi/test-app-beta/node_modules/@strapi/database/lib/index.js:38:20)
    at Function.Database.init (/Users/boazpoolman/Code/boazpoolman/strapi/test-app-beta/node_modules/@strapi/database/lib/index.js:84:33)
    at Strapi.bootstrap (/Users/boazpoolman/Code/boazpoolman/strapi/test-app-beta/node_modules/@strapi/strapi/lib/Strapi.js:383:30)
    at Strapi.load (/Users/boazpoolman/Code/boazpoolman/strapi/test-app-beta/node_modules/@strapi/strapi/lib/Strapi.js:446:16)
    at async Command.<anonymous> (/Users/boazpoolman/Code/boazpoolman/strapi/test-app-beta/node_modules/strapi-plugin-config-sync/server/cli.js:220:17)
    at async Command.parseAsync (/Users/boazpoolman/Code/boazpoolman/strapi/test-app-beta/node_modules/strapi-plugin-config-sync/node_modules/commander/lib/command.js:923:5)
(Use `node --trace-warnings ...` to show where the warning was created)
(node:96471) UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: Unhandled promise rejection. This error originated either by throwing inside of an async function without a catch block, or by rejecting a promise which was not handled with .catch(). To terminate the node process on unhandled promise rejection, use the CLI flag `--unhandled-rejections=strict` (see https://nodejs.org/api/cli.html#cli_unhandled_rejections_mode). (rejection id: 2)
(node:96471) [DEP0018] DeprecationWarning: Unhandled promise rejections are deprecated. In the future, promise rejections that are not handled will terminate the Node.js process with a non-zero exit code.

System

• Node.js version: v14.19.0
• Strapi version: 4.2.0-beta.0
• Database: sqlite
• Operating system: Mac OS (M1)

Additional context

When I do an non-typescript install of the beta this issue does not happen.

[AntoineXev]

Same thing encountered here.

Seems like in dialects.js, db.config.connection is equal to {} (nothing is passed to the db config)

const getDialect = db => {
  const { client } = db.config.connection;
  console.log(db.config)
  const constructor = getDialectClass(client);
  const dialect = new constructor(db);
  dialect.client = client;

  return dialect;
};

No connection config is passed to the db plugin

[AntoineXev]

@boazpoolman
@soupette ⚠️ found the solution: you'll need to run strapi start dist
I think it's the typescript command start which is not well configured, a solution might be to change start command when generating with typescript flag "start": "strapi start dist"

[boazpoolman]

@AntoineXevlabs But that still doesn't fix the issue for me as I'm trying to start Strapi programatically, not via the CLI.

[AntoineXev]

@boazpoolman change in package.json "start": "strapi start dist", then yarn / npm run start should work fine no ?

[boazpoolman]

@AntoineXevlabs Yeah, but what if you do this:

• Create file test.js
• Inside test.js add:

const strapi = require('@strapi/strapi');
// ...
const app = strapi().load();

• Run node test.js
• See the error

EDIT:
This currently works for Strapi v4.1.x and for v4.2.0-beta if you do a non-typescript install.

[AntoineXev]

@boazpoolman const app = strapi({appDir: './dist'}).load(); should make the trick

[boazpoolman]

Awesome! That seems legit.

Question for Strapi;
Is this backwards compatible?
Should I update my plugins to this format?

[Convly]

Hey, thanks for opening this issue!

Could you try using const app = strapi({ distDir: './dist' }).load(); instead and tell me it works?

Basically, for the moment the dist directory represents the compiled project (with the same folder structure as the app directory) and the app directory represents your codebase (TS or JS).
The main differences are:

• When using the CTB to create/update/delete content types, we're using the app folder to write the files. When reading what content types exist on your system, we're reading the dist folder. Basically we're reading from the dist directory & writing to the app directory.
• Only the app folder is watched when using the develop command. In TS a compilation will be triggered when a change is detected in the app folder & the output will be written to the dist folder

Note: We're having some issues with the public folder as it should be static and shouldn't be compiled/moved in any way, which isn't the case for the moment.

Note 2: When developing in vanilla JS, the dist folder will be the same as the app folder since we writing & reading in the same place. If we were to use some kind of compilation tool for JS (babel, etc...) we would set the dist directory to wherever babel output the code.

Note 3: Currently, the default values for the app & dist directories are set using this small util.

/**
 * Resolve the working directories based on the instance options.
 *
 * Behavior:
 * - `appDir` is the directory where Strapi will write every file (schemas, generated APIs, controllers or services)
 * - `distDir` is the directory where Strapi will read configurations, schemas and any compiled code
 *
 * Default values:
 * - If `appDir` is `undefined`, it'll be set to `process.cwd()`
 * - If `distDir` is `undefined`, it'll be set to `appDir`
 */
const resolveWorkingDirectories = opts => {
  const cwd = process.cwd();

  const appDir = opts.appDir ? path.resolve(cwd, opts.appDir) : cwd;
  const distDir = opts.distDir ? path.resolve(cwd, opts.distDir) : appDir;

  return { appDir, distDir };
};

[boazpoolman]

Hey @Convly,

Thanks for following up on this issue.

I find that using either of these two give me the expected result:

const app = strapi({ distDir: './dist' }).load();
const app = strapi({ appDir: './dist' }).load();

Though if I leave the strapi() parameters empty I will get the error as initially described.

[jobehi]

@boazpoolman
@soupette ⚠️ found the solution: you'll need to run strapi start dist
I think it's the typescript command start which is not well configured, a solution might be to change start command when generating with typescript flag "start": "strapi start dist"

Thank you that worked for me.