I'm building a URL shortener app in Node.js (v20.16.0) using Express.
In my controller/user.js, I try to import uuid like this:
const { v4: uuidv4 } = require('uuid');
But when I run npm start, I get this error:
Error [ERR_REQUIRE_ESM]: require() of ES Module
D:\NodeJs\short-url\node_modules\uuid\dist\index.js
from D:\NodeJs\short-url\controller\user.js not supported.
The error happens because now UUID (onwards 12+) is ESM-only and no longer supports require().
My recommendation (since you’re on Node.js 20 and starting fresh):
Switch your project to ESM ("type": "module" in package.json) and use:
import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
OR
Use Node.js’s Built-in crypto Module (No Dependency Needed):
const { randomUUID } = require('crypto');
// Use randomUUID() directly
console.log(randomUUID()); // Outputs a v4 UUID
This is the simplest and most efficient solution, as it requires no additional dependencies and is built into Node.js
robertklep's answer is great, but perhaps there's an easier approach - instead of converting your code from CJS to ESM, you can just drop the third party uuid dependency altogether, and use the built-in crypto.randomUUID. It provides UUID v4 functionality, and is available from Node.js 14.17.0, which is well in the past (and should be fine since you're using Node.js 20).
There's a note in the README stating that "Starting with uuid@12 CommonJS is no longer supported".
If you can convert your code to use ESM, use the following:
import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
If not, install an older version:
npm i uuid@11
See the aforementioned README for more information.
