Version 6 is ESM only

[soundstep]

I guess there is no way to use execa >= 6 in nodejs CommonJS projects?
I'm in a project where I can't add "type: module" in my package.json, that would be too big of a change.

This is a drastic change, why not export for both? Especially with all the drawbacks NodeJS ESM can have (file system, __dirname, path resolving, etc).

The error I got:

internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1102
      throw new ERR_REQUIRE_ESM(filename, parentPath, packageJsonPath);
      ^

Error [ERR_REQUIRE_ESM]: Must use import to load ES Module:app/node_modules/.pnpm/execa@6.0.0/node_modules/execa/index.js
require() of ES modules is not supported.
require() of app/node_modules/.pnpm/execa@6.0.0/node_modules/execa/index.js from app/scripts/check-version.js is an ES module file as it is a .js file whose nearest parent package.json contains "type": "module" which defines all .js files in that package scope as ES modules.
Instead rename index.js to end in .cjs, change the requiring code to use import(), or remove "type": "module" from app/node_modules/.pnpm/execa@6.0.0/node_modules/execa/package.json.

[sindresorhus]

You can use await import() to import it from CommonJS: https://gist.github.com/sindresorhus/a39789f98801d908bbc7ff3ecc99d99c

[soundstep]

Amazing, working, thanks for the doc!

For others, in a NodeJS (14.x) CommonJS script:

(async () => {
        const execaCommand = (await import('execa')).execaCommand;
})();

[rattrayalex]

To save others who find this a bit of time, using TypeScript with CommonJS, the following code still threw an ESM error for me:

export default async function main() {
  const { execa } = await import('execa');

Instead, I added "execa": "^5.1.1", to my package.json and imported a named import:

import execa from 'execa';

I look forward to TS having better ESM support built in.

[michaelgwelch]

Amazing, working, thanks for the doc!

For others, in a NodeJS (14.x) CommonJS script:

(async () => {
        const execaCommand = (await import('execa')).execaCommand;
})();

I don't understand. You mean do this and then put your whole app inside of the closure? after the import of execa?

[ehmicky]

Instead of using a closure, you can use a top-level await providing you use Node.js >=14.14.0:

const { execaCommand } = await import('execa')

Note: this is not specific to Execa, this applies to any pure ESM package.

[michaelgwelch]

Sure thanks @ehmicky, I'm one of those trying to figure out how to consume in a CommonJS script. I have no experience with ESM at all. I'll be researching how to convert in the near future, I guess.

[seanmorrisonit]

Just been wrangling this one as well. Here's where we go to but am getting the error A dynamic import callback was not specified.

So for now we will stick with 5.1.1.

Source for this code: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70545129/compile-a-package-that-depends-on-esm-only-library-into-a-commonjs-package

    let execa: typeof t_execa | undefined
    if (typeof execa == 'undefined') {
        const mod = await (eval(`import('execa')`) as Promise<
            typeof import('execa')
        >)
        ;({ execa } = mod)
    }

[ghost]

Does anyone know an alternative to this package that is not ESM only and that does support the AbortController?

[ghost]

Nevermind, thanks - I found the fork with the CJS version, published at https://www.npmjs.com/package/@esm2cjs/execa

[rashil-gopee]

This worked for me

import execa = require('execa')

[abejfehr]

I'm not able to use a top level await in node 20, I'm told that:

SyntaxError: await is only valid in async functions and the top level bodies of modules

[ehmicky]

Hi @abejfehr,

Top-level await is only available with ES modules. Please see the following instructions.

Please note this is not specific to Execa, i.e. might be more relevant for https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues.