🐛 Bug Report: Experiencing "Error: Cannot find module 'packages/backend/dist/index.cjs.js "

[deemanning]

📜 Description

I'm currently experiencing the following when attempting to deploy Backstage via CI/CD pipeline per dockerfile leveraging a Node.js v18.20.2 image:

---

node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:451
throw err;
^
Error: Cannot find module '/appdir/packages/backend/dist/index.cjs.js'. Please verify that the package.json has a valid "main" entry
at tryPackage (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:443:19)
at Module._findPath (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:711:18)
at resolveMainPath (node:internal/modules/run_main:25:23)
at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:121:24)
at node:internal/main/run_main_module:28:49 {
code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
path: '/appdir/packages/backend/package.json',
requestPath: '/appdir/packages/backend'
}
Node.js v18.20.2

Within the same GitLab project, the application deploys successfully locally. Along with the image reference via FROM, the dockerfile is associated with the following config:

---

#Install all required utilities and packages
USER 0
RUN microdnf update -y && microdnf install -y git && microdnf install -y python3 && microdnf clean all
RUN microdnf install -y sqlite sqlite-devel && microdnf clean all
USER 1001

#Create node modules dir
USER 0
RUN mkdir -p /.cache/node/corepack/v1 && chmod -R 777 /.cache
USER 1001

#Set the specific yarn version
USER 0
RUN yarn set version 1.22.22
#Install dependencies using yarn
RUN npm install -g yarn
RUN mkdir ~/.yarn-global
RUN yarn config set prefix ~/.yarn-global
USER 1001

USER 0
RUN npm install -g typescript
RUN npm install -g npm
USER 1001

Copy app code to root

COPY --chown=1001:0 . .

EXPOSE 3000

Launch backstage app

CMD ["node", "packages/backend", "--config", "app-config.production.yaml"]

After running the following to ensure that I have the latest versions, I'm still hitting the same issue:
npx @backstage/cli versions:bump

yarn backstage-cli info

yarn run v1.22.22
OS: Darwin 23.4.0 - darwin/arm64
node: v18.20.2
yarn: 1.22.22
cli: 0.26.5 (installed)
backstage: 1.27.1

Dependencies:
@backstage/app-defaults 1.5.5
@backstage/backend-app-api 0.7.4
@backstage/backend-common 0.22.0
@backstage/backend-defaults 0.2.18
@backstage/backend-dev-utils 0.1.4
@backstage/backend-openapi-utils 0.1.11
@backstage/backend-plugin-api 0.6.18
@backstage/backend-tasks 0.5.23
@backstage/catalog-client 1.6.5
@backstage/catalog-model 1.5.0
@backstage/cli-common 0.1.13
@backstage/cli-node 0.2.5
@backstage/cli 0.26.5
@backstage/config-loader 1.8.0
@backstage/config 1.2.0
@backstage/core-app-api 1.12.5
@backstage/core-compat-api 0.2.5
@backstage/core-components 0.14.7
@backstage/core-plugin-api 1.9.2
@backstage/e2e-test-utils 0.1.1
@backstage/errors 1.2.4
@backstage/eslint-plugin 0.1.8
@backstage/frontend-plugin-api 0.6.5
@backstage/integration-aws-node 0.1.12
@backstage/integration-react 1.1.27
@backstage/integration 1.11.0
@backstage/plugin-api-docs 0.11.5
@backstage/plugin-app-backend 0.3.66
@backstage/plugin-app-node 0.1.18
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-atlassian-provider 0.1.10
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-aws-alb-provider 0.1.10
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-azure-easyauth-provider 0.1.1
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-bitbucket-provider 0.1.1
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-cloudflare-access-provider 0.1.1
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-gcp-iap-provider 0.2.13
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-github-provider 0.1.15
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-gitlab-provider 0.1.15
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-google-provider 0.1.15
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-guest-provider 0.1.4
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-microsoft-provider 0.1.13
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-oauth2-provider 0.1.15
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-oauth2-proxy-provider 0.1.11
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-oidc-provider 0.1.9
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-okta-provider 0.0.11
@backstage/plugin-auth-backend 0.22.5
@backstage/plugin-auth-node 0.4.13
@backstage/plugin-auth-react 0.1.2
@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend-module-scaffolder-entity-model 0.1.16
@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend 1.22.0
@backstage/plugin-catalog-common 1.0.23
@backstage/plugin-catalog-graph 0.4.5
@backstage/plugin-catalog-import 0.11.0
@backstage/plugin-catalog-node 1.12.0
@backstage/plugin-catalog-react 1.12.0
@backstage/plugin-catalog 1.20.0
@backstage/plugin-events-node 0.3.4
@backstage/plugin-org 0.6.25
@backstage/plugin-permission-backend-module-allow-all-policy 0.1.15
@backstage/plugin-permission-backend 0.5.42
@backstage/plugin-permission-common 0.7.13
@backstage/plugin-permission-node 0.7.29
@backstage/plugin-permission-react 0.4.22
@backstage/plugin-proxy-backend 0.4.16
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-azure 0.1.10
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-bitbucket-cloud 0.1.8
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-bitbucket-server 0.1.8
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-bitbucket 0.2.8
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-gerrit 0.1.10
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-gitea 0.1.8
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-github 0.2.8
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab 0.4.0
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend 1.22.6
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-common 1.5.2
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-node 0.4.4
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-react 1.8.5
@backstage/plugin-scaffolder 1.20.0
@backstage/plugin-search-backend-module-catalog 0.1.24
@backstage/plugin-search-backend-module-techdocs 0.1.23
@backstage/plugin-search-backend-node 1.2.22
@backstage/plugin-search-backend 1.5.8
@backstage/plugin-search-common 1.2.11
@backstage/plugin-search-react 1.7.11
@backstage/plugin-search 1.4.11
@backstage/plugin-techdocs-backend 1.10.5
@backstage/plugin-techdocs-module-addons-contrib 1.1.10
@backstage/plugin-techdocs-node 1.12.4
@backstage/plugin-techdocs-react 1.2.4
@backstage/plugin-techdocs 1.10.5
@backstage/plugin-user-settings 0.8.6
@backstage/release-manifests 0.0.11
@backstage/repo-tools 0.9.0
@backstage/test-utils 1.5.5
@backstage/theme 0.5.4
@backstage/types 1.1.1
@backstage/version-bridge 1.0.8

👍 Expected behavior

Successful deployment via CI/CD pipeline deployment

👎 Actual Behavior with Screenshots

👟 Reproduction steps

Details are provided within the description.

📃 Provide the context for the Bug.

No response

🖥️ Your Environment

No response

👀 Have you spent some time to check if this bug has been raised before?

• I checked and didn't find similar issue

🏢 Have you read the Code of Conduct?

• I have read the Code of Conduct

Are you willing to submit PR?

None

[Rugvip]

Are you basing your build setup on https://backstage.io/docs/deployment/docker? It looks like you might've skipped the build step

[deemanning]

Patrick, thanks for your response. The build step is actually associated within my GitLab CI pipeline runner configuration in which the dockerfile that I added here is leveraged to pull down and install all the preqs (yarn, git, typescript, etc...) via Node.js v18.20.2 image. After that completes per the build stage, the following commands are then executed to build and push the new image with the resulting variables:

• docker build --pull --build-arg "BASE_REGISTRY=${CI_REGISTRY}" ${BUILD_OPTS} -t "${IMAGE}" .
• docker push ${IMAGE}

The "deploy" stage then leverage the new image per the CI_Registry and create the OpenShift service, deployment, and route configuration per yaml config files within the platform. As noted prior, I'm leveraging the "app-config.production.yaml" within my dockerfile "CMD" script to launch Backstage via production deployment which leads to the error that I'm currently experiencing.

I will note that I've tested the "dev" deployment locally with the same code by running "yarn dev" and the application deployed successfully. I'm only hitting a snag when attempting to deploy via production.

[Rugvip]

@deemanning right, but does that all use either of the docker build options outlined in https://backstage.io/docs/deployment/docker?

[jpdevex]

I got the same issue, in my case, I had a misconfiguration on .dockerignore

[deemanning]

Hey Patrick, sorry for the late response. To answer your question, yes, I initially leveraged that exact article and the build options via my dockerfile config. The problem that I ran into with the documented build options was that a number of the directories associated with the build options no longer exist within the current Backstage binary file directories. The following is an example of an error that I run into with leveraging the provided build options:

ERROR: failed to solve: failed to compute cache key: "/packages/backend/dist/bundle.tar.gz" not found: not found

There is no "dist" directory within /packages per the download of the current Backstage application binary files. The version of Backstage that I'm leveraging is 1.27.1.

So it appears that there are new code updates via the Backstage application but the documentation for Backstage deployment is not updated. Is there by chance an updated deployment doc that correlates with the 1.27.1 version?

[benjdlambert]

@deemanning You need to build the app first that's what's going to generate the bundle.tar.gz files that are going to be used inside the docker build.

yarn tsc && yarn --cwd packages/backend build at the root should do it I think.

Depending on how you've setup the dockerfile, this command is run either in the container, or it's run on the host machine and then the outputs are mounted into the container. Which one are you trying to do?

[adamdabbracci]

+1 we are having a similar issue:

backstage-1  | Error: Cannot find module '/app/packages/backend/dist/index.cjs.js'. Please verify that the package.json has a valid "main" entry
backstage-1  |     at tryPackage (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:443:19)
backstage-1  |     at Module._findPath (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:711:18)
backstage-1  |     at resolveMainPath (node:internal/modules/run_main:25:23)
backstage-1  |     at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:121:24)
backstage-1  |     at node:internal/main/run_main_module:28:49 {
backstage-1  |   code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
backstage-1  |   path: '/app/packages/backend/package.json',
backstage-1  |   requestPath: '/app/packages/backend'

We're using the multi-step build from the docs. In the build stage:

RUN yarn tsc
RUN yarn --cwd packages/backend build

RUN mkdir packages/backend/dist/skeleton packages/backend/dist/bundle \
    && tar xzf packages/backend/dist/skeleton.tar.gz -C packages/backend/dist/skeleton \
    && tar xzf packages/backend/dist/bundle.tar.gz -C packages/backend/dist/bundle

Then in the final stage:

# Copy the install dependencies from the build stage and context
COPY --from=build --chown=node:node /app/yarn.lock /app/package.json /app/packages/backend/dist/skeleton/ ./

RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/home/node/.cache/yarn,sharing=locked,uid=1000,gid=1000 \
    yarn install --frozen-lockfile --production --network-timeout 600000

# Copy the built packages from the build stage
COPY --from=build --chown=node:node /app/packages/backend/dist/bundle/ ./

This started happening recently, so I'm wondering if it has to do with the Backstage version?

node: v18.19.1
yarn: 1.22.19
cli:  0.26.10 (installed)
backstage:  1.25.2

[adamdabbracci]

I was able to reproduce it with and updated Backstage version:

OS:   Darwin 23.5.0 - darwin/arm64
node: v18.19.1
yarn: 1.22.19
cli:  0.26.10 (installed)
backstage:  1.28.4

[awanlin]

Hi @adamdabbracci, did you replicate it with your instance upgraded or a a new instance using create-app? If it was your instance can you share the full output of yarn backstage-cli info?

[adamdabbracci]

All using our existing instance, here's the full output:

node: v18.19.1
yarn: 1.22.19
cli:  0.26.10 (installed)
backstage:  1.28.4

Dependencies:
  @backstage/app-defaults                                          1.5.7
  @backstage/backend-app-api                                       0.5.14, 0.7.9
  @backstage/backend-common                                        0.20.2, 0.21.7, 0.22.0, 0.23.2
  @backstage/backend-defaults                                      0.3.3
  @backstage/backend-dev-utils                                     0.1.4
  @backstage/backend-openapi-utils                                 0.1.14
  @backstage/backend-plugin-api                                    0.6.21
  @backstage/backend-tasks                                         0.5.26
  @backstage/backend-test-utils                                    0.4.3
  @backstage/catalog-client                                        1.6.5
  @backstage/catalog-model                                         1.5.0
  @backstage/cli-common                                            0.1.14
  @backstage/cli-node                                              0.2.6
  @backstage/cli                                                   0.26.10
  @backstage/config-loader                                         1.8.1
  @backstage/config                                                1.2.0
  @backstage/core-app-api                                          1.13.0
  @backstage/core-compat-api                                       0.2.6
  @backstage/core-components                                       0.13.10, 0.14.8
  @backstage/core-plugin-api                                       1.9.3
  @backstage/dev-utils                                             1.0.34
  @backstage/errors                                                1.2.4
  @backstage/eslint-plugin                                         0.1.8
  @backstage/frontend-plugin-api                                   0.6.6
  @backstage/integration-aws-node                                  0.1.12
  @backstage/integration-react                                     1.1.28
  @backstage/integration                                           1.12.0
  @backstage/plugin-api-docs                                       0.11.6
  @backstage/plugin-app-backend                                    0.3.70
  @backstage/plugin-app-node                                       0.1.21
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-atlassian-provider         0.2.2
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-aws-alb-provider           0.1.13
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-azure-easyauth-provider    0.1.4
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-bitbucket-provider         0.1.4
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-cloudflare-access-provider 0.1.4
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-gcp-iap-provider           0.2.16
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-github-provider            0.1.18
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-gitlab-provider            0.1.18
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-google-provider            0.1.18
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-guest-provider             0.1.7
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-microsoft-provider         0.1.16
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-oauth2-provider            0.2.2
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-oauth2-proxy-provider      0.1.14
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-oidc-provider              0.2.2
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-okta-provider              0.0.14
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend-module-onelogin-provider          0.1.2
  @backstage/plugin-auth-backend                                   0.22.8
  @backstage/plugin-auth-node                                      0.4.16
  @backstage/plugin-auth-react                                     0.1.3
  @backstage/plugin-catalog-backend-module-github                  0.6.4
  @backstage/plugin-catalog-backend-module-msgraph                 0.5.29
  @backstage/plugin-catalog-backend-module-scaffolder-entity-model 0.1.19
  @backstage/plugin-catalog-backend-module-unprocessed             0.4.8
  @backstage/plugin-catalog-backend                                1.23.2
  @backstage/plugin-catalog-common                                 1.0.24
  @backstage/plugin-catalog-graph                                  0.4.6
  @backstage/plugin-catalog-import                                 0.12.0
  @backstage/plugin-catalog-node                                   1.12.3
  @backstage/plugin-catalog-react                                  1.12.1
  @backstage/plugin-catalog-unprocessed-entities-common            0.0.2
  @backstage/plugin-catalog-unprocessed-entities                   0.2.5
  @backstage/plugin-catalog                                        1.21.0
  @backstage/plugin-events-backend-module-github                   0.2.7
  @backstage/plugin-events-backend                                 0.3.8
  @backstage/plugin-events-node                                    0.3.7
  @backstage/plugin-home-react                                     0.1.14
  @backstage/plugin-home                                           0.7.6
  @backstage/plugin-kubernetes-backend                             0.18.2
  @backstage/plugin-kubernetes-common                              0.8.0
  @backstage/plugin-kubernetes-node                                0.1.15
  @backstage/plugin-kubernetes-react                               0.4.0
  @backstage/plugin-kubernetes                                     0.11.11
  @backstage/plugin-org                                            0.6.26
  @backstage/plugin-pagerduty                                      0.7.7
  @backstage/plugin-permission-backend                             0.5.45
  @backstage/plugin-permission-common                              0.7.14
  @backstage/plugin-permission-node                                0.7.32
  @backstage/plugin-permission-react                               0.4.23
  @backstage/plugin-proxy-backend                                  0.5.2
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-azure                0.1.13
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-bitbucket-cloud      0.1.11
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-bitbucket-server     0.1.11
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-bitbucket            0.2.11
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-gerrit               0.1.13
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-gitea                0.1.11
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-github               0.3.2
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab               0.4.3
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend                             1.22.11
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-common                              1.5.3
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-node                                0.4.7
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder-react                               1.9.0
  @backstage/plugin-scaffolder                                     1.22.0
  @backstage/plugin-search-backend-module-catalog                  0.1.27
  @backstage/plugin-search-backend-module-elasticsearch            1.5.2
  @backstage/plugin-search-backend-module-pg                       0.5.31
  @backstage/plugin-search-backend-module-techdocs                 0.1.26
  @backstage/plugin-search-backend-node                            1.2.26
  @backstage/plugin-search-backend                                 1.5.13
  @backstage/plugin-search-common                                  1.2.12
  @backstage/plugin-search-react                                   1.7.12
  @backstage/plugin-search                                         1.4.13
  @backstage/plugin-signals-node                                   0.1.7
  @backstage/plugin-signals-react                                  0.0.2, 0.0.4
  @backstage/plugin-techdocs-backend                               1.10.8
  @backstage/plugin-techdocs-module-addons-contrib                 1.1.11
  @backstage/plugin-techdocs-node                                  1.12.7
  @backstage/plugin-techdocs-react                                 1.2.5
  @backstage/plugin-techdocs                                       1.10.6
  @backstage/plugin-user-settings-common                           0.0.1
  @backstage/plugin-user-settings                                  0.8.8
  @backstage/release-manifests                                     0.0.11
  @backstage/test-utils                                            1.5.7
  @backstage/theme                                                 0.5.6
  @backstage/types                                                 1.1.1
  @backstage/version-bridge                                        1.0.8

[adamdabbracci]

Also, potentially interesting to note, this doesn't happen if we run it in Yarn (yarn dev), so it seems to be specific to the backend build process that happens in Docker.

[awanlin]

Ok, just created a fresh Backstage instance so 1.28.0, copied the Multistage Docker example to a Dockerfile at the root of the project. Made the changes the docs suggested in the .dockerignore file. Disabled the default auth policy and allowed guest outside of dev. Then ran docker image build -t backstage . followed by docker run -it -p 7007:7007 backstage. Then in a browser opened: http://localhost:7007. That works for me and there are no errors in the logs.

So there's something about your instance that's off but I'm not sure what. Generally when I see multiple versions of the same package - like @backstage/backend-common - that's something I would be concerned about. Not sure if that's try in this case though 🤔

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.