javascript - Why am I getting a ReferenceError: AbortController is not defined in Discord.js v13?

Question

Today (7.8.2021) Discord.js v13 has been released. So I upgraded my previous Discord.js installation with

npm i discord.js@latest

and then adapted my basic index.js file to this state (I followed the Discord.js Guide):

const { Client, Intents } = require("discord.js");

const client = new Client({
  intents: [Intents.FLAGS.GUILDS, Intents.FLAGS.GUILD_MESSAGES],
});

client.once("ready", () => {
  console.log("Ready!");
});

client.login("my-token");

However when I try to run my code I keep getting this error:

$ node .

(node:11216) UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: ReferenceError: AbortController is not defined

at RequestHandler.execute (C:pathTo ode_modulesdiscord.jssrc estRequestHandler.js:172:15)

I've been working with Discord.js for more than 2 years now, hence I was astonished that I was having trouble with the new release. Is this an issue with the Discord.js v13 library? If not how can I fix the error?

Answer 1

The Issue:

One of the prerequisites for using Discord.js v13 is that you need to use NodeJS v16.6 or higher (emphasis mine):

v13 requires Node 16.6 or higher to use, so make sure you're up to date. To check your Node version, use node -v

---

The Fix:

The fix is to update your node version, you can confirm your current node version by running node -v. There are a variety of different ways to update node, one way is to run the following commands if you're using Linux / iOS:

> npm install -g n
> n latest

The first command installs the command-line interface n, and then the second uses n to update to the latest stable version of node. If you're on Windows, you can install NVM as outlined in this answer by pradeek.

Note for Heroku users:

Once you have followed the above steps to update your node version, you might then be required to update your package.json file by adding/updating the engines:

"engines": {
  "node": "16.x"
}

---

Why this broke in v13?:

A few versions ago of discordjs, a feature was added that aborts requests that take too long (longer than 15 seconds). In order to achieve this functionality, they were previously using the node package abort-controller. However, now that nodejs has evolved, it now has its own AbortController global without the need to require an external package. Discord.js v13 now relies on this global as they're no longer using the abort controller package. In order to use the AbortController global provided by nodejs, you need to be using node v15 or higher - however, as recommended by the discord.js guide, you should be using v16.6+ to enable support for other features it may use.