Error resolving commonjs request for [project]/node_modules/better-sqlite3/lib/database.js

[aretrace]

I am attempting to use Next.js 13 new app directory (trying out RSCs) with better-sqlite3 (through Drizzle ORM, the issue is the same with just better-sqlite3), I get the following error:

... warn - ./node_modules/better-sqlite3/lib/database.js Critical dependency: the request of a dependency is an expression ... Import trace for requested module: ./node_modules/better-sqlite3/lib/database.js ./node_modules/better-sqlite3/lib/index.js ./src/db/client.ts ./src/app/page.tsx error - Failed to generate static paths for /: TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'indexOf') ...

My codebase is a bare-bones skeleton:

src/
├── app/
│ ├── ...
│ ├── page.tsx
│ └── ...
└── db/
├── ...
├── client.ts
└── ...

In client.ts I export a const db from the new Database api and I import it in page.tsx where I attempt to execute a simple query (trying both outside and inside the react component function), the error stems from the instantiation of Database with nextjs displaying the following error in the browser:

Server Error TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'indexOf')
...
export const db = new Database('sqlite.db')
^

I am fairly confident all statements are running only on the server (I used the 'use server' directive and get the same error).

[aretrace]

Got rid of the error by adding this external webpack modules configuration option in next.config.js:

webpack: (config) => {
    config.externals = {
      'better-sqlite3': 'commonjs better-sqlite3',
    }
    return config
  },

Is this practice mentioned somewhere in the docs? Are there any "gotchas" with this?

[aretrace]

See @barthicus answer at drizzle-team/drizzle-orm#249, would be fixed by vercel/next.js#47327