SyntaxError: Cannot use import statement outside a module

When importing zod as an esm module, a syntax error is thrown:

import z from 'zod'
^^^^^^

SyntaxError: Cannot use import statement outside a module

Reproduction steps

mkdir test
cd test
echo '{"type":"module"}' > package.json
yarn add zod@3.0.0-alpha.9
echo "import z from 'zod'" > index.js
node index.js

$ node --version
v15.11.0
$ yarn --version
1.22.10

OS: Pop!_OS 20.10 x86_64 (basically Ubuntu 20.10)

Possible fixes

I haven’t pulled anything down to fix it just yet, but the thing it’s complaining about is that in order for native esm modules to import other modules, you need to have "type": "module" in your package.json. I don’t know off the top of my head what that will do to commonjs. When I tried just editing it directly in node_modules, the next issue that came up is that the imports inside of lib/esm/ didn’t have extentions, i.e. import * as z from "./external" instead of import * as z from "./external.js".

I’ll try pulling it down and document what I’ve tried here.

[colinhacks]

This should be at least partially fixed with the most recent release. I switched to using Rollup to bundle the ES module which sidesteps the file extension issue.

You should always do import { z } from 'zod'.

I read the Node docs thoroughly and set up Zod’s package.json to support conditional exports. I thought this would enable you to import Zod without setting "type": "module" in the package.json (of the consuming project, not in the Zod package) but it didn’t work for me (with Node 14, --experimental-modules). I guess I’m misunderstanding something.

Anyway this should be largely resolved.

@ksmithut @beejunk Give it a try with alpha.30 or later and let me know if it works.

[ksmithut]

Fixed for me as well 😃 Thanks!