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Module Not Found

Why This Error Occurred​

A module not found error can occur for many different reasons:

  • The module you're trying to import is not installed in your dependencies
  • The module you're trying to import is in a different directory
  • The module you're trying to import has a different casing
  • The module you're trying to import uses Node.js specific modules, for example dns, outside of getStaticProps / getStaticPaths / getServerSideProps

Possible Ways to Fix It​

The module you're trying to import is not installed in your dependencies​

When importing a module from npm this module has to be installed locally.

For example when importing the swr package:

import useSWR from 'swr'

The swr module has to be installed using a package manager.

  • When using npm: npm install swr
  • When using yarn: yarn add swr
The module you're trying to import is in a different directory​

Make sure that the path you're importing refers to the right directory and file.

The module you're trying to import has a different casing​

Make sure the casing of the file is correct.

Example:

export default function MyComponent() {
return <h1>Hello</h1>
}
// Note how `components/MyComponent` exists but `Mycomponent` without the capital `c` is imported
import MyComponent from '../components/Mycomponent'

Incorrect casing will lead to build failures on case-sensitive environments like most Linux-based continuous integration and can cause issues with Fast Refresh.

The module you're trying to import uses Node.js specific modules​

getStaticProps, getStaticPaths, and getServerSideProps allow for using modules that can only run in the Node.js environment. This allows you to do direct database queries or reading data from Redis to name a few examples.

The tree shaking only runs on top level pages, so it can't be relied on in separate React components.

You can verify the tree shaking on next-code-elimination.vercel.app.

Example of correctly tree-shaken code:

import Redis from 'ioredis'

const redis = new Redis(process.env.REDIS_URL)

export default redis
import redis from '../lib/redis'

export async function getStaticProps() {
const message = await redis.get('message')
return {
message,
}
}

export default function Home({ message }) {
return <h1>{message}</h1>
}

Example of code that would break:

import Redis from 'ioredis'

const redis = new Redis(process.env.REDIS_URL)

export default redis
// Redis is a Node.js specific library that can't run in the browser
// Trying to use it in code that runs on both Node.js and the browser will result in a module not found error for modules that ioredis relies on
// If you run into such an error it's recommended to move the code to `getStaticProps` or `getServerSideProps` as those methods guarantee that the code is only run in Node.js.
import redis from '../lib/redis'
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react'

export default function Home() {
const [message, setMessage] = useState()
useEffect(() => {
redis.get('message').then((result) => {
setMessage(result)
})
}, [])
return <h1>{message}</h1>
}

Example of code that would break:

import Redis from 'ioredis'

// Modules that hold Node.js-only code can't also export React components
// Tree shaking of getStaticProps/getStaticPaths/getServerSideProps is ran only on page files
const redis = new Redis(process.env.REDIS_URL)

export function MyComponent() {
return <h1>Hello</h1>
}

export default redis
// In practice you'll want to refactor the `MyComponent` to be a separate file so that tree shaking ensures that specific import is not included for the browser compilation
import redis, { MyComponent } from '../lib/redis'

export async function getStaticProps() {
const message = await redis.get('message')
return {
message,
}
}

export default function Home() {
return <MyComponent />
}