ERR_REQUIRE_ESM when using Node.js ESM in tandem with TypeScript config (commitlint.config.ts)

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

// tsconfig.json
{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "node16"
  }
}

Expected Behavior

With the given setup above, executing npx commitlint --to HEAD should not result in ERR_REQUIRE_ESM error.

Current Behavior

Currently, the above setup is giving the following output:

./node_modules/ts-node/dist-raw/node-internal-errors.js:46
  const err = new Error(getErrRequireEsmMessage(filename, parentPath, packageJsonPath))
              ^
Error [ERR_REQUIRE_ESM]: Must use import to load ES Module: ./commitlint.config.ts
require() of ES modules is not supported.
require() of ./commitlint.config.ts from ./node_modules/cosmiconfig-typescript-loader/dist/loader.js is an ES module file as it is a .ts file whose nearest parent package.json contains "type": "module" which defines all .ts files in that package scope as ES modules.
Instead change the requiring code to use import(), or remove "type": "module" from ./package.json.

    at createErrRequireEsm (./node_modules/ts-node/dist-raw/node-internal-errors.js:46:15)
    at assertScriptCanLoadAsCJSImpl (./node_modules/ts-node/dist-raw/node-internal-modules-cjs-loader.js:584:11)
    at Object.require.extensions.<computed> [as .ts] (./node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:1589:5)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:988:32)
    at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:834:12)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1012:19)
    at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:102:18)
    at loader (./node_modules/cosmiconfig-typescript-loader/dist/loader.js:12:28)
    at Explorer.loadFileContent (./node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:81:32)
    at Explorer.createCosmiconfigResult (./node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:89:36) {
  name: 'TypeScriptCompileError'
}

Affected packages

• cli
• core
• prompt
• config-angular

Possible Solution

1. Support commitlint.config.cts, or
2. Use import() to load config

Steps to Reproduce (for bugs)

1. First step: Minimal setup of commitlint according to the official documentation with package.json and tsconfig.json supplied above.
2. Second step: Run npx commitlint --to HEAD.

commitlint.config.ts

import type { UserConfig } from "@commitlint/types";

const config: UserConfig = {
  extends: ["@commitlint/config-conventional"],
};

export default config;

Context

Without touching tsconfig.json, if I remove "type": "module" from package.json, npx commitlint --to HEAD can be executed successfully.

But this is not plausible since I have migrated the whole repository to Node.js ESM since the release of TypeScript 4.7 officially supporting it.

Raising this issue as people with similar setup will encounter this as well.

Currently resorted to using commitlint.config.cjs, but still prefer to have commitlint.config.ts in the long run.

Your Environment

Executable	Version
commitlint --version	17.0.2
git --version	2.36.1
node --version	18.4.0

[jjbell150]

We also have the same issue after migrating to ESM, can confirm that renaming commitlint.config.js to commitlint.config.cjs works as a temporary fix

[ZerdoX-x]

Renaming commitlint.config.ts to commitlint.config.cts doesn’t work in my case:

/Users/user/path/node_modules/.pnpm/cosmiconfig@7.1.0/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/ExplorerBase.ts:109
      throw new Error(
            ^
Error: No loader specified for extension ".cts"
    at Explorer.getLoaderEntryForFile (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/cosmiconfig@7.1.0/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/ExplorerBase.ts:109:13)
    at Explorer.loadFileContent (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/cosmiconfig@7.1.0/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:80:25)
    at Explorer.createCosmiconfigResult (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/cosmiconfig@7.1.0/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:89:36)
    at runLoad (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/cosmiconfig@7.1.0/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/Explorer.ts:104:33)
    at async cacheWrapper (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/cosmiconfig@7.1.0/node_modules/cosmiconfig/src/cacheWrapper.ts:13:18)
    at async loadConfig (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/@commitlint+load@17.3.0/node_modules/@commitlint/load/src/utils/load-config.ts:42:16)
    at async load (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/@commitlint+load@17.3.0/node_modules/@commitlint/load/src/load.ts:25:17)
    at async main (/Users/zerdox/p/zerdox/zerdox.dev/node_modules/.pnpm/@commitlint+cli@17.3.0/node_modules/@commitlint/cli/src/cli.ts:214:17)
husky - commit-msg hook exited with code 1 (error)

So currently commitlint doesn’t support .(ts|cts|mts|js|mjs) configs…