javascript - How to trick Node.js to load .js files as ES6 modules?

Question

Node.JS 10 added experimental support for loading ES6 modules, which already work in browsers. That would mean that we could finally use exactly the same files for Node.JS and browsers without any transpiling or polyfills.

Except we can't. Node.js requires .mjs extension for files to be loaded as modules. I tried tricking node by using a symlink, but node got around it:

D:weblines>node --experimental-modules ES6test.mjs
(node:7464) ExperimentalWarning: The ESM module loader is experimental.
D:weblinesES6test.js:6
import myLibrary from "./MyFile.mjs";
       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I can't think of any other workaround to make this work - which really renders the whole ES6 module support useless.

Can anybody else think of some trick to make Node.js ignore the extension?

Answer 1

You can now import .js file in node v12.x, in 2 steps:

• Add the following line in your package.json file:

// package.json
{
  "type": "module"
}

• Add --experimental-modules flag before the script:

node --experimental-modules index.js

Reference: https://nodejs.org/api/esm.html