[Bug]: `npm run dev` fails on MacOS dist-electron/main.cjs emitted as ESM, guard plugin throws

[HackedRico]

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Describe the bug

Running npm run dev on a fresh clone fails during the Vite build of the Electron main process. The recordly-electron-main-cjs-guard plugin throws because dist-electron/main.cjs is emitted with ESM export { ... } syntax instead of CommonJS, so node --check rejects it.

The build log shows dist-electron/main.cjs being written twice in succession with different byte sizes, which suggests Rollup is producing both a CJS and an ESM output to the same [name].cjs filename and the ESM one ends up overwriting the CJS one. The relevant config is in vite.config.ts:36-48, where lib.formats: ["cjs"] is combined with a single-object rollupOptions.output that also sets format: "cjs" and entryFileNames: "[name].cjs".

Expected behavior

npm run dev should produce a valid CommonJS dist-electron/main.cjs, pass the smoke check, and launch the Electron app against the Vite dev server.

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. git clone https://github.com/webadderall/Recordly.git recordly
2. cd recordly
3. npm install
4. npm run dev
5. Build completes, then the guard plugin throws Electron main CJS smoke failed after Vite build with SyntaxError: Unexpected token 'export' from dist-electron/main.cjs.

Screenshots

Attaching terminal standard output.

❯ npm run dev

> recordly@1.3.0-beta.1 dev
> vite --config vite.config.ts

vite v5.4.21 building for development...

watching for file changes...
vite v5.4.21 building for development...

watching for file changes...

build started...

build started... (x2)

  VITE v5.4.21  ready in 154 ms

  ➜  Local:   http://localhost:5173/
  ➜  Network: use --host to expose
  ➜  press h + enter to show help
✓ 1 modules transformed.
dist-electron/preload.mjs  21.23 kB │ gzip: 3.76 kB
built in 220ms.
✓ 435 modules transformed.
dist-electron/main.cjs  1,003.03 kB │ gzip: 205.31 kB
dist-electron/main.cjs  996.43 kB │ gzip: 204.12 kB
built in 1049ms.
file:///Users/devuser/Documents/GitHub/Recordly/vite.config.ts.timestamp-1778296263787-382699a40ac88.mjs:19
        throw new Error(
              ^

Error: Electron main CJS smoke failed after Vite build.
file:///Users/devuser/Documents/GitHub/Recordly/scripts/smoke-electron-main-cjs.mjs:25
    throw new Error(
          ^

Error: dist-electron/main.cjs does not parse as CommonJS:
(node:30565) Warning: Failed to load the ES module: /Users/devuser/Documents/GitHub/Recordly/dist-electron/main.cjs. Make sure to set "type": "module" in the nearest package.json file or use the .mjs extension.
(Use `node --trace-warnings ...` to show where the warning was created)
/Users/devuser/Documents/GitHub/Recordly/dist-electron/main.cjs:28499
export {
^^^^^^

SyntaxError: Unexpected token 'export'
    at wrapSafe (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1762:18)
    at checkSyntax (node:internal/main/check_syntax:76:3)

Node.js v25.9.0

    at file:///Users/devuser/Documents/GitHub/Recordly/scripts/smoke-electron-main-cjs.mjs:25:8

Node.js v25.9.0

    at Object.closeBundle (file:///Users/devuser/Documents/GitHub/Recordly/vite.config.ts.timestamp-1778296263787-382699a40ac88.mjs:19:15)
    at file:///Users/devuser/Documents/GitHub/Recordly/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:22426:40
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:104:5)
    at async Promise.all (index 0)
    at async PluginDriver.hookParallel (file:///Users/devuser/Documents/GitHub/Recordly/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:22336:9)
    at async Object.close (file:///Users/devuser/Documents/GitHub/Recordly/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:23347:13) {
  code: 'PLUGIN_ERROR',
  plugin: 'recordly-electron-main-cjs-guard',
  hook: 'closeBundle'
}

Node.js v25.9.0

OS

macOS

OS Version

MacOS Tahoe 26.4.1 (Darwin 25.4.0, Apple Silicon / arm64)

Other OS

No response

Additional context

Tail of the emitted dist-electron/main.cjs:

});
export {
  MAIN_DIST,
  RENDERER_DIST,
  VITE_DEV_SERVER_URL
};

Relevant build log excerpt:

dist-electron/main.cjs  1,003.03 kB │ gzip: 205.18 kB
dist-electron/main.cjs    996.43 kB │ gzip: 204.00 kB
built in 1399ms.

Error: Electron main CJS smoke failed after Vite build.
Error: dist-electron/main.cjs does not parse as CommonJS:
(node:20341) Warning: Failed to load the ES module: .../dist-electron/main.cjs.
.../dist-electron/main.cjs:28499
export {
^^^^^^
SyntaxError: Unexpected token 'export'
  at wrapSafe (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1762:18)
  at checkSyntax (node:internal/main/check_syntax:76:3)

  plugin: 'recordly-electron-main-cjs-guard',
  hook: 'closeBundle'

I'll be happy to contribute if this is a real bug. Currently, npm run dev is not working for any of the Node versions I've tried.

[webadderall]

real bug

[meiiie]

Closed via #468.

Root cause: the Electron main build was still inheriting the vite-plugin-electron ESM default, and Vite merged that with the CJS config instead of replacing it. That meant the build could emit both ESM and CJS into dist-electron/main.cjs, leaving intermittent ESM syntax in a .cjs file.

The fix forces the Electron main bundle to a single CJS output after plugin defaults are merged, keeps the CJS smoke guard, and adds regression coverage for the normalizer path.

Verified locally with:

• npm test -- electron/mainCjsNormalize.test.mjs
• npm run smoke:electron-main-cjs
• npx tsc --noEmit --pretty false
• scoped Biome check on the changed files
• git diff --check
• full npx vite build --config vite.config.ts