Using ES6 'assert' breaks production function

Support
1

All is fine with using ES6 such as this import:
import sde from '../path-to/sde.json'

But when I include the assert (which I require for different reasons (monorepo)) such as:
import sde from '../path-to/sde.json' assert {type:'json'}

I get the following error when envoking the function:

{
    "errorType": "Runtime.UserCodeSyntaxError",
    "errorMessage": "SyntaxError: Cannot use import statement outside a module",
    "trace": [
        "Runtime.UserCodeSyntaxError: SyntaxError: Cannot use import statement outside a module",
        "    at _loadUserApp (file:///var/runtime/index.mjs:1058:17)",
        "    at async UserFunction.js.module.exports.load (file:///var/runtime/index.mjs:1093:21)",
        "    at async start (file:///var/runtime/index.mjs:1256:23)",
        "    at async file:///var/runtime/index.mjs:1262:1"
    ]
}

There are no logs present in the log viewer either.

This also functionally works in netlify dev as expected.
No changes to the default nodejs version (which I believe is 18).
"type":"module" is present in package.json.

Everything is ok locally. Please let me know how I can make this work please!

2

Can’t say much without seeing a reproduction. I have been able to import JSON files in Netlify Functions in the past without an issue. I did not have to specify assert. Please share a minimal reproduction.

3

Working example:

sde.json → Place a json somewhere and reference it in the imports below

File: /functions/assert-example.js

// import sde from '../../frontend/src/generated-data/sde.json' // no assert is ok in netlify
import sde from '../../frontend/src/generated-data/sde.json' assert {type:'json'} // assert breaks netlify prod

export async function handler (event, context) {
  return {
    statusCode: 200,
    body: JSON.stringify({ sde })
  }
}

package.json → Contains type:'module'

netlify dev → Hit url http://localhost:8888/.netlify/functions/assert-example → Result ALL GOOD
netlify deploy --prod → Hit url https://abyssboard.netlify.app/.netlify/functions/assert-example → Result: Error:

ReferenceError - module is not defined in ES module scope This file is being treated as an ES module because it has a '.js' file extension and '/var/task/package.json' contains "type": "module". To treat it as a CommonJS script, rename it to use the '.cjs' file extension.
4

Renaming the file to .mjs does seem to fix this, but I think the discrepancy between the netlify dev and prod behaviour should really be addressed.

5

Adding:

[functions]
  node_bundler = "esbuild"

should fix it.

6

FWIW, I’ve run into this same issue with assert breaking functions and adding node_bundler = "esbuild" doesn’t fix the problem.

With a simple assert in place:

import records from "./data/records.json" assert { type: "json" };

I get the following error:

Runtime.HandlerNotFound - function-name-here.handler is undefined or not exported
7

The above error seems to be different than the one you’ve posted. Thus, it would be useful if you can share a reproduction.

8

Yes the specific error is different, but the reproduction is the same as above: adding assert breaks the function, without this, the function runs correctly.

This should be trivial for you to test/replicate internally, but the skeleton of the function is essentially:

import records from "./data/records.json" assert { type: "json" };

export default async (_request, _context) => {
  return new Response(JSON.stringify(records), {
    headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
    status: 200
  });
};

The ./data/records.json file can just include an array of objects, e.g.

[
  { "label": "Record One" },
  { "label": "Record Two" }
]