--node doesn't work

I am using browserify v13.0.0

I have an a.js which just has a module.exports = {a: 1}

And I run browserify as so: browserify --node --debug a.js > bundle.js

In the node REPL,

> require ('./bundle.js')
{}
>

Why the {} ? Shouldn’t it give me {a: 1}?

Although I’ve reduced my problem to the simplest case, this behavior is stopping me from bundling a project involving multiple coffeescript files into a single file for node & browsers.

Ive also tried --bare, --no-builtins, --no-bf

[ghost]

This isn’t an issue with --node, this is just how browserify works. When you do browserify a.js you generate a bundle that will run a.js, not export the functionality of a.js. You should use --require or --standalone to generate bundles that will export functionality instead of running when executed.

[IonicaBizau]

@substack Using -s foo works, but this will generate a global when loaded into a commonjs environment (which in general is not bad). --require does not work. It still exports an empty object, like --node does.

Basically, the best one is -s foo but I don’t want to create a global at all, because I know that I will load the module in a Node.js environment. So, what is the option to export functionality but not include the check for commonjs existence?

Thanks! 🍰