Bug: Internal server error: Failed to resolve import "vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/process"

[Andrew-Chen-Wang]

Summary

I'm in a monorepo setup where I'm referencing another monorepo package from my vite/react app. I was looking forwards to the fix for #142, so I upgraded once #152 was merged and released in 0.27.0 and 0.28.0. With 0.27.0 and 0.28.0, I got this error. Downgrading to 0.26.0 fixed it.

5:18:15 AM [vite] Internal server error: Failed to resolve import "vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/process" from "../../../lib/typescript/api-client/src/index.ts". Does the file exist?
dashboard:dev:   Plugin: vite:import-analysis
dashboard:dev:   File: /Users/andrew/Work/Code/projects/matchpro/BestFit/lib/typescript/api-client/src/index.ts:1:36
dashboard:dev:   1  |  import { default as process } from "vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/process";
dashboard:dev:      |                                      ^
dashboard:dev:   2  |  import { client } from "./generated/client.gen";
dashboard:dev:   3  |  export * from "./generated/client.gen";
dashboard:dev:       at TransformPluginContext._formatLog (file:///Users/andrew/Work/Code/projects/matchpro/BestFit/node_modules/.pnpm/vite@8.0.8_@types+node@24.12.0_esbuild@0.28.0_jiti@2.6.1_terser@5.46.1_tsx@4.21.0/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/node.js:30354:39)
dashboard:dev:       at TransformPluginContext.error (file:///Users/andrew/Work/Code/projects/matchpro/BestFit/node_modules/.pnpm/vite@8.0.8_@types+node@24.12.0_esbuild@0.28.0_jiti@2.6.1_terser@5.46.1_tsx@4.21.0/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/node.js:30351:14)
dashboard:dev:       at normalizeUrl (file:///Users/andrew/Work/Code/projects/matchpro/BestFit/node_modules/.pnpm/vite@8.0.8_@types+node@24.12.0_esbuild@0.28.0_jiti@2.6.1_terser@5.46.1_tsx@4.21.0/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/node.js:27633:18)
dashboard:dev:       at async file:///Users/andrew/Work/Code/projects/matchpro/BestFit/node_modules/.pnpm/vite@8.0.8_@types+node@24.12.0_esbuild@0.28.0_jiti@2.6.1_terser@5.46.1_tsx@4.21.0/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/node.js:27696:30
dashboard:dev:       at async Promise.all (index 0)
dashboard:dev:       at async TransformPluginContext.transform (file:///Users/andrew/Work/Code/projects/matchpro/BestFit/node_modules/.pnpm/vite@8.0.8_@types+node@24.12.0_esbuild@0.28.0_jiti@2.6.1_terser@5.46.1_tsx@4.21.0/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/node.js:27664:4)
dashboard:dev:       at async EnvironmentPluginContainer.transform (file:///Users/andrew/Work/Code/projects/matchpro/BestFit/node_modules/.pnpm/vite@8.0.8_@types+node@24.12.0_esbuild@0.28.0_jiti@2.6.1_terser@5.46.1_tsx@4.21.0/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/node.js:30143:14)
dashboard:dev:       at async loadAndTransform (file:///Users/andrew/Work/Code/projects/matchpro/BestFit/node_modules/.pnpm/vite@8.0.8_@types+node@24.12.0_esbuild@0.28.0_jiti@2.6.1_terser@5.46.1_tsx@4.21.0/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/node.js:24468:26)
dashboard:dev: 5:18:15 AM [vite] (client) Pre-transform error: Failed to resolve import "vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/process" from "../../../lib/typescript/api-client/src/index.ts". Does the file exist?
dashboard:dev:   Plugin: vite:import-analysis
dashboard:dev:   File: /Users/andrew/Work/Code/projects/matchpro/BestFit/lib/typescript/api-client/src/index.ts:1:36
dashboard:dev:   1  |  import { default as process } from "vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/process";
dashboard:dev:      |                                      ^                                                                                     
dashboard:dev:   2  |  import { client } from "./generated/client.gen";
dashboard:dev:   3  |  export * from "./generated/client.gen";

[sapphi-red]

Have you tried 0.28.0?

[Andrew-Chen-Wang]

Just tested 0.28.0. It also doesn't work for both Vite 7 and 8. Here was Claude's diagnosis. None of the solutions worked for me.

Reproduction: https://github.com/Andrew-Chen-Wang/reproduce-vite-plugin-node-polyfills-158

Here's the diagnosis from Claude:

The bug is in vite-plugin-node-polyfills@0.28.0 — dist/index.js (around lines 161–253).

The plugin's inject step (using @rollup/plugin-inject) rewrites any reference to process / Buffer / global into an injected import using the bare specifier:

import { default as process } from "vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/process"

In apps/frontends/dashboard/src/main.tsx your process.env.NODE_ENV reference (line 8 of lib/typescript/api-client/src/index.ts) triggers this injection. Then Vite tries to resolve the bare specifier from the importer's directory, walking up node_modules. With pnpm's strict layout:

• lib/typescript/api-client/node_modules/ → only has @tanstack, @types, react (no polyfills plugin)
• workspace root node_modules/ → not hoisted (pnpm)
• Resolution fails. Confirmed via require.resolve test from each directory.

The plugin already computes the absolute path via m.resolve("vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/process") and stuffs it in optimizeDeps.exclude (h), but it never wires that path into either:

1. resolve.alias — so the injected bare specifier could be re-mapped to the absolute path, or
2. the f map fed to @rollup/plugin-inject — so the injected import itself would be the absolute path.

The inject map f uses the bare specifier:

const f = {
  ...s(e.globals.process, "build") ? { process: "vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/process" } : {},
  ...
};

That's the bug surface. In a non-pnpm or hoisted layout the bare specifier accidentally resolves; under pnpm strict + Vite 8, only the SPA app can resolve it, not its workspace dependencies.

Three ways out (in order of how invasive):

1. Patch the plugin — pre-resolve and put both forms in resolve.alias:

   resolve: {
     alias: {
       ...n,
       "vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/process": m.resolve("vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/process"),
       "vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/buffer":  m.resolve("vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/buffer"),
       "vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/global":  m.resolve("vite-plugin-node-polyfills/shims/global"),
     }
   }

   Then @rollup/plugin-inject's bare import resolves everywhere.

2. Workspace fix — drop process.env.NODE_ENV from lib/typescript/api-client/src/index.ts (line 8) and use Vite's import.meta.env.DEV / MODE instead. That removes the process reference entirely so nothing gets injected. Cleanest if api-client is only consumed by Vite/Node (not edge).

3. Workaround — add vite-plugin-node-polyfills as a direct dep of lib/typescript/api-client (or hoist via .npmrc), so pnpm puts it in api-client's node_modules.

Want me to apply (2)? It's the right long-term fix — process.env.NODE_ENV doesn't belong in code that ships to a Vite-bundled SPA.

Details