Config file not recognizing typescript when upgrading Payload to latest version

[tribal pawn]

I am upgrading Payload from 3.0.0-beta.127 to 3.11.0 (and fixing all the manual breaking in between).

I ran into an issue where I could not run any payload commands using script: "payload": "cross-env PAYLOAD_CONFIG_PATH=src/payload.config.ts payload"

I would get numerous errors around Typescript ESM features in my payload.config.ts. Syntax Errors around unrecognized typescript features like as as well as imports failing using cusotmTypescripty import paths.

[zealous notch]

New Community-Help Thread Created!

Help is on the way! To mark it as solved, use the /solve command. In the meantime, here are some existing threads that may help you:

Documentation:

• Installation - Adding to an existing app - 4. Create a Payload Config and add it to your TypeScript config
• The Payload Config - Config Options - Typescript Config
• The Payload Config - TypeScript

Community-Help:

• How can I achieve an array of relationships in a Field? | PayloadCMS 3.0
• S3 + Crop in Payload 2 not working (plugin-cloud-storage)
• Deployment to ubuntu server on a digital ocean droplet
• Fetch user from custom endpoint

[tribal pawn]

✅ The fix is to add "type": "module", to your package.json. I also updated the tsconfig.json to match the one generated by a new create-payload-app project.

After this, all the payload commands work normally and my payload.config.ts file is parsed correctly again without any changes.

Just self-documenting this issue.