Bug: Cannot find vite

[marvinhagemeister]

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a deno.json with these contents:

{
  "imports": {
    "vite": "npm:vite@5.4.5"
  },
  "tasks": {
    "dev": "vite"
  }
}

2. Create a vite.config.ts file with these contents:

import { defineConfig } from "vite";
export default defineConfig({});

3. Run deno install
4. Run deno task dev

Output:

$ deno task dev
Task dev vite
failed to load config from /Users/marvinh/dev/test/deno-vite-init/vite.config.ts
error when starting dev server:
Error: Cannot find module 'vite'
Require stack:
- /Users/marvinh/dev/test/deno-vite-init/vite.config.ts
- /Users/marvinh/Library/Caches/deno/npm/registry.npmjs.org/vite/5.4.5/dist/node/chunks/dep-CUvs3bbV.js
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (node:module:616:15)
    at Function.Module._load (node:module:494:27)
    at Module.require (node:module:678:19)
    at require (node:module:802:16)
    at Object.<anonymous> (file:///Users/marvinh/dev/test/deno-vite-init/vite.config.ts:25:19)
    at Object.<anonymous> (file:///Users/marvinh/dev/test/deno-vite-init/vite.config.ts:31:4)
    at Module._compile (node:module:742:34)
    at Object._require.extensions.<computed> [as .js] (file:///Users/marvinh/Library/Caches/deno/npm/registry.npmjs.org/vite/5.4.5/dist/node/chunks/dep-CUvs3bbV.js:66642:16)
    at Module.load (node:module:659:32)
    at Function.Module._load (node:module:531:12)

Version: Deno 2.0.0-rc.2+606b7b1

[bartlomieju]

You need to do nodeModulesDir: "auto" in config file

[marvinhagemeister]

When I add nodeModulesDir: "auto" it doesn't find the vite command anymore:

$ deno task dev
Task dev vite
vite: command not found

[bartlomieju]

That looks like a regression, indeed.

[nathanwhit]

I'm fairly sure this never worked. We don't, in general, try to figure out what to autoinstall based just on a bin command.

[birkskyum]

I'm probably a bit old-fashioned here, but people who use vite are coming from node, and just talking for myself, I'm really intersted in a stable/fast manual flow, and not used to, or particularly interested in, anything related to package auto-installs. At least not if it's at the cost of a worse manual package install flow (I have the deno install crash on me every other time i manually add a package), or if it's introducing avoidable slowdowns like running an "implicit deno install before running a task"

[nathanwhit]

at the cost of a worse manual package install flow (I have the deno install crash on me every other time i manually add a package)

Could you expand a bit on this? I'm not sure I follow

implicit deno install before running a task

Nevermind about that suggestion, that's not the right fix. I didn't think through it enough 😅

[birkskyum]

at the cost of a worse manual package install flow (I have the deno install crash on me every other time i manually add a package)

Could you expand a bit on this? I'm not sure I follow

Sure, I can see it's not so clear what I meant. I don't see any technical blockers for having both great manual/autoinstall flows - but in the case of prioritization/limited engineering time+resources (and there often is) I'd personally lean far towards making the new manual install / task execution flow absolutely stellar, before figuring out how to automate it.

[marvinhagemeister]

FYI: I opened this issue because it occurred despite calling deno install manually.

[bartlomieju]

@marvinhagemeister does the issue persist for you after you call deno install after adding nodeModulesDir configuration?

[birkskyum]

It works if the deno install is called after the nodeModulesDir: auto is added. (deno 2.0.0-rc.2)

If I set the nodeModuleDir:true I see a

Warning `"nodeModulesDir": true` is deprecated in Deno 2.0. Use `"nodeModulesDir": "auto"` instead`.

Instead of having to remember setting this, would it be possible to default nodeModulesDir: auto for deno 2, or even remove the nodeModulesDir, if the alternatives are deprecated and there's only the auto option left?

[bartlomieju]

It works if the deno install is called after the nodeModulesDir: auto is added. (deno 2.0.0-rc.2)

If I set the nodeModuleDir:true I see a

Warning `"nodeModulesDir": true` is deprecated in Deno 2.0. Use `"nodeModulesDir": "auto"` instead`.

Instead of having to remember setting this, would it be possible to default nodeModulesDir: auto for deno 2, or even remove the nodeModulesDir, if the alternatives are deprecated and there's only the auto option left?

It's not the only option left, there's also local and manual. These will be visible once #25380 is addressed.

[nathanwhit]

Oh I've just realized that @marvinhagemeister 's PR to vite (vitejs/vite#18081) will actually fix this as well.

The issue is that vite thinks that the deno project is CJS (fake ESM), so it transpiles it to CJS with require – which doesn't respect import maps in deno (and doesn't work super well with the global cache). After that PR, it doesn't transpile to CJS so it just works