vite-plugin-node-polyfills

A Vite plugin to polyfill Node's Core Modules for browser environments. Supports node: protocol imports.

Why do I need this?

Module "stream" has been externalized for browser compatibility. Cannot access "stream.Readable" in client code.

Since browsers do not support Node's Core Modules, packages that use them must be polyfilled to function in browser environments. In an attempt to prevent runtime errors, Vite produces errors or warnings when your code references builtin modules such as fs or path.

Getting Started

Install the package as a dev dependency.

# npm
npm install --save-dev vite-plugin-node-polyfills

# pnpm
pnpm install --save-dev vite-plugin-node-polyfills

# yarn
yarn add --dev vite-plugin-node-polyfills

Add the plugin to your vite.config.ts file.

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import { nodePolyfills } from 'vite-plugin-node-polyfills'

// https://vitejs.dev/config/
export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    nodePolyfills(),
  ],
})

Customizable when you need it

The following options are available to customize it for your needs.

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import { nodePolyfills } from 'vite-plugin-node-polyfills'

// https://vitejs.dev/config/
export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    nodePolyfills({
      // To add only specific polyfills, add them here. If no option is passed, adds all polyfills
      include: ['path'],
      // To exclude specific polyfills, add them to this list. Note: if include is provided, this has no effect
      exclude: [
        'http', // Excludes the polyfill for `http` and `node:http`.
      ],
      // Whether to polyfill specific globals.
      globals: {
        Buffer: true, // can also be 'build', 'dev', or false
        global: true,
        process: true,
      },
      // Override the default polyfills for specific modules.
      overrides: {
        // Since `fs` is not supported in browsers, we can use the `memfs` package to polyfill it.
        fs: 'memfs',
      },
      // Whether to polyfill `node:` protocol imports.
      protocolImports: true,
    }),
  ],
})

All polyfills

If protocolImports is true, also adds node:[module]

[
  '_stream_duplex',
  '_stream_passthrough',
  '_stream_readable',
  '_stream_transform',
  '_stream_writable',
  'assert',
  'buffer',
  'child_process',
  'cluster',
  'console',
  'constants',
  'crypto',
  'dgram',
  'dns',
  'domain',
  'events',
  'fs',
  'http',
  'http2',
  'https',
  'module',
  'net',
  'os',
  'path',
  'process',
  'punycode',
  'querystring',
  'readline',
  'repl',
  'stream',
  'string_decoder',
  'sys',
  'timers',
  'timers/promises',
  'tls',
  'tty',
  'url',
  'util',
  'vm',
  'zlib',
]

About the author

Hello! My name is David, and in my spare time, I build tools to help developers be more productive. If you find my work valuable, I would really appreciate a sponsorship or donation. If you want to see more of my work, check out davidmyers.dev.