Getting ERR_REQUIRE_ESM errors all of a sudden | Backstage | Page 1

left geode Nov 24, 2025, 10:41 AM

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Starting last Friday I'm suddenly getting ERR_REQUIRE_ESM errors when trying to run Backstage on my local machine. I'm not entirely sure what changed, as far as I can tell this worked just fine before. What's even more interesting is that the error seems to be coming from different backend modules. Any ideas of what I could try to diagnose what's going wrong?

obtuse chasm Nov 24, 2025, 1:07 PM

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I've seen this happen when backend plugin tries to import something from a frontend plugin 🤔

left geode Nov 24, 2025, 1:51 PM

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This is one of the errors I'm seeing:

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/Users/jmezach/Code/rr/Backstage/node_modules/@backstage-community/plugin-announcements-backend/dist/router.cjs.js:121
actionType: pluginAnnouncementsCommon.AUDITOR_ACTION_DELETE,
^

Error [ERR_REQUIRE_ESM]: require() of ES Module /Users/jmezach/Code/rr/Backstage/node_modules/@backstage-community/plugin-announcements-backend/node_modules/uuid/dist-node/index.js from /Users/jmezach/Code/rr/Backstage/node_modules/@backstage-community/plugin-announcements-backend/dist/router.cjs.js not supported.
Instead change the require of index.js in /Users/jmezach/Code/rr/Backstage/node_modules/@backstage-community/plugin-announcements-backend/dist/router.cjs.js to a dynamic import() which is available in all CommonJS modules.
at Object.newLoader [as .js] (/Users/jmezach/Code/rr/Backstage/node_modules/pirates/lib/index.js:121:7)
at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/jmezach/Code/rr/Backstage/node_modules/@backstage-community/plugin-announcements-backend/dist/router.cjs.js:7:12)
at Object.newLoader [as .js] (/Users/jmezach/Code/rr/Backstage/node_modules/pirates/lib/index.js:121:7) {
code: 'ERR_REQUIRE_ESM'
}

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This seems to import something from the common package into the backend plugin, which should be fine right?

left geode Nov 24, 2025, 3:58 PM

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Hmm, maybe I'm being hit by this? https://github.com/uuidjs/uuid/releases/tag/v13.0.0

GitHub

Release v13.0.0 · uuidjs/uuid

13.0.0 (2025-09-08)
⚠ BREAKING CHANGES

make browser exports the default (#901)

Bug Fixes

make browser exports the default (#901) (bce9d72)

left geode Nov 25, 2025, 10:35 AM

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Turns out I needed to update to Node 22 to make this work properly

slim marten Nov 25, 2025, 2:31 PM

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We actually have on our radar that 20 is EOL now, and we should be supporting 22 + 24.

Missed that in the last mainline last week, but we're looking at making the switch in the next mainline.

left geode Nov 26, 2025, 9:21 AM

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@slim marten Thanks for the update. Upgrading to Node 22 was fairly painless to be honest. I just used nvm to switch to Node 22 and it worked like a charm. Also updated the Dockerfile to use Node 22 base images and that also worked just fine.

slim marten Nov 26, 2025, 9:22 AM

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🙏 good to know. We have a PR ready to ship soonish that switches to node 22 minimum https://github.com/backstage/backstage/pull/31454 but some tests are failing there currently. Hopefully will get some time to get that across the line before the next mainline.

GitHub

Version Policy Update - Node 22 to 24 by awanlin · Pull Request #3...

Hey, I just made a Pull Request!
Following our Version Policy for Node this updates to add support for Node 22 to 24 in CI. It also updated the @types/node version where used.
Node 24 will become a...

karmic lava Dec 10, 2025, 3:27 PM

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hey im hitting this as well but we're already on node 22

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the uuid update in announcements and playlists i believe getting the same exact error

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actually.. sorry resolved the above but still get:

[backend]:       throw e;
[backend]:       ^
[backend]:
[backend]: Error [ERR_PACKAGE_PATH_NOT_EXPORTED]: Package subpath './v4' is not defined by "exports" in /app/node_modules/uuid/package.json
[backend]:     at exportsNotFound (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:296:10)
[backend]:     at packageExportsResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:643:9)
[backend]:     at resolveExports (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:640:36)
[backend]:     at Module._findPath (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:748:31)
[backend]:     at Module._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1235:27)
[backend]:     at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1075:27)
[backend]:     at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:315:14)
[backend]:     at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:218:24)
[backend]:     at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1340:12)
[backend]:     at require (node:internal/modules/helpers:141:16) {
[backend]:   code: 'ERR_PACKAGE_PATH_NOT_EXPORTED'
[backend]: }
[backend]:
[backend]: Node.js v22.11.0```

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its coming from

├─ @backstage/backend-common@npm:0.23.3
│  └─ @kubernetes/client-node@npm:0.20.0 (via npm:0.20.0)
│
├─ @backstage/backend-common@npm:0.24.1
│  └─ @kubernetes/client-node@npm:0.20.0 (via npm:0.20.0)
│
├─ @backstage/backend-common@npm:0.25.0
│  └─ @kubernetes/client-node@npm:0.20.0 (via npm:0.20.0)
│
├─ @backstage/backend-common@npm:0.24.1 [32d6d]
│  └─ @kubernetes/client-node@npm:0.20.0 (via npm:0.20.0)
│
├─ @backstage/backend-common@npm:0.25.0 [3fad9]
│  └─ @kubernetes/client-node@npm:0.20.0 (via npm:0.20.0)
│
├─ @backstage/backend-common@npm:0.24.1 [6fc4f]
│  └─ @kubernetes/client-node@npm:0.20.0 (via npm:0.20.0)
│
└─ @backstage/backend-common@npm:0.23.3 [d1250]
   └─ @kubernetes/client-node@npm:0.20.0 (via npm:0.20.0)```

karmic lava Dec 10, 2025, 4:53 PM

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forcing 1.4.0 lets back back around to an ESM issue: [backend]: /app/node_modules/@backstage/backend-common/dist/index.cjs.js:121 [backend]: function readHttpListenOptions(config) { [backend]: ^ [backend]: [backend]: Error [ERR_REQUIRE_ESM]: require() of ES Module /app/node_modules/@kubernetes/client-node/dist/index.js from /app/node_modules/@backstage/backend-common/dist/index.cjs.js not supported. [backend]: Instead change the require of index.js in /app/node_modules/@backstage/backend-common/dist/index.cjs.js to a dynamic import() which is available in all CommonJS modules. [backend]: at Object.newLoader [as .js] (/app/node_modules/pirates/lib/index.js:121:7) [backend]: at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:315:14) [backend]: at Object.<anonymous> (/app/node_modules/@backstage/backend-common/dist/index.cjs.js:56:18) { [backend]: code: 'ERR_REQUIRE_ESM' [backend]: } [backend]: [backend]: Node.js v22.11.0 [app]: Loaded config from app-config.yaml [app]: fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git [app]: fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git [app]: NOTE: Did not compute git version or commit hash, could not execute the git command line utility [app]: <i> [webpack-dev-server] Project is running at: [app]: <i> [webpack-dev-server] Loopback: http://127.0.0.1:3000/ [app]: <i> [webpack-dev-server] Content not from webpack is served from '/app/packages/app/public' directory [app]: <i> [webpack-dev-server] 404s will fallback to '/index.html' [app]: Rspack compiled successfully

karmic lava Dec 10, 2025, 6:27 PM

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following up it seems that it starts up on node 22.21.1 but this error is on node 22.11.0 -- will confirm by upgrading our node to newer 22.x and follow up just for completeness.

karmic lava Dec 10, 2025, 7:16 PM

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confirming that fixed it

acoustic sundial Jan 9, 2026, 1:52 PM

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Hello All, facing this ERR_REQUIRE_ESM and if I specify uuid version then get this package export errors, when upgraded announcement & lingustic backend plugin. We are also on node 22.11.0. So can you confirm which node version fixed these errors ?

sturdy hull Jan 9, 2026, 4:13 PM

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I believe you need to be on 22.18 or newer but don't quote me on that

karmic lava Jan 9, 2026, 5:53 PM

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22.21.1 is the newest 22.x and yes you do need to be on a very recent one.. there was a bug in ESM stuff

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we hit the same thing before moving to 24

#Getting ERR_REQUIRE_ESM errors all of a sudden