@jsenv/importmap-eslint-resolver

importmap-eslint-resolver

Import maps resolution for ESLint.

Table of contents

• Presentation
• Installation
• Configuration
• Advanced configuration example
• About

Presentation

Import maps are used to remap import to somewhere else. For instance the following importmap allows to remap "foo" to "./foo.js".

{
  "imports": {
    "foo": "./foo.js"
  }
}

By providing this importmap to the browser or Node.js, js imports resolution becomes aware of the importmap file remappings. You can write the following js file and it would search for file at "./foo.js".

import { value } from "foo"

console.log(value)

If you use import/no-unresolved rule from eslint-plugin-import these imports are reported as not resolved as shown in images below.

This is why @jsenv/importmap-eslint-resolver exists: to make import/no-unresolved compatible with importmap file.

— see ESLint website
— see eslint-plugin-import on github
— see importmap spec on github

Installation

Follow the steps below to enable importmap resolution for ESLint.

Install eslint-plugin-import

npm install --save-dev eslint-plugin-import

Install importmap-eslint-resolver

npm install --save-dev @jsenv/importmap-eslint-resolver

Configure ESLint

Your ESLint config must:

• enable "import" in plugins
• configure "import/resolver" to use @jsenv/importmap-eslint-resolver as resolver
• configure projectDirectoryUrl and importMapFileRelativeUrl

The minimal .eslintrc.cjs file look like this:

module.exports = {
  plugins: ["import"],
  settings: {
    "import/resolver": {
      "@jsenv/importmap-eslint-resolver": {
        projectDirectoryUrl: __dirname,
        importMapFileRelativeUrl: "./project.importmap",
      },
    },
  },
}

Configuration

By default the resolution is:

• case sensitive
• browser like
  • consider node core modules (fs, url) as not found
  • do not implement node module resolution
  • do not understand path without extension (does not try to auto add extension)

This resolution default behaviour is documented in this section and can be configured to your convenience.

importMapFileRelativeUrl parameter

importMapFileRelativeUrl parameter is a string leading to an importmap file. This parameter is optional and undefined by default.

module.exports = {
  plugins: ["import"],
  settings: {
    "import/resolver": {
      "@jsenv/importmap-eslint-resolver": {
        projectDirectoryUrl: __dirname,
        importMapFileRelativeUrl: "./project.importmap",
      },
    },
  },
}

caseSensitive parameter

caseSensitive parameter is a boolean indicating if the file path will be case sensitive. This parameter is optional and enabled by default. See Case sensitivity.

module.exports = {
  plugins: ["import"],
  settings: {
    "import/resolver": {
      "@jsenv/importmap-eslint-resolver": {
        projectDirectoryUrl: __dirname,
        importMapFileRelativeUrl: "./project.importmap",
        caseSensitive: false,
      },
    },
  },
}

importDefaultExtension parameter

importDefaultExtension parameter is a boolean indicating if a default extension will be automatically added to import without file extension. This parameter is optional and disabled by default. See Extensionless import

When enabled the following import

import { value } from "./file"

Will search for a file with an extension. The extension is "inherited" from the file where the import is written:

If written in whatever.js, searches at file.js.
If written in whatever.ts, searches at file.ts.

node parameter

node parameter is a boolean indicating if the file are written for Node.js. This parameter is optional and disabled by default. See Node module resolution

When enabled node core modules (path, fs, url, etc) will be considered as found.

module.exports = {
  plugins: ["import"],
  settings: {
    "import/resolver": {
      "@jsenv/importmap-eslint-resolver": {
        projectDirectoryUrl: __dirname,
        node: true,
      },
    },
  },
}

Advanced configuration example

In a project mixing files written for the browser AND for Node.js you should tell ESLint which are which. This is possible thanks to overrides documented on ESLint in Configuration Based on Glob Patterns.

.eslintrc.cjs

const eslintConfig = {
  plugins: ["import"],
  overrides: [],
}

// by default consider files as written for browsers
Object.assign(eslintConfig, {
  env: {
    es6: true,
    browser: true,
    node: false,
  },
  settings: {
    "import/resolver": {
      "@jsenv/importmap-eslint-resolver": {
        projectDirectoryUrl: __dirname,
        importMapFileRelativeUrl: "./project.importmap",
      },
    },
  },
})

// but consider files inside script/ as written for Node.js
eslintConfig.overrides.push({
  files: ["script/**/*.js"],
  env: {
    es6: true,
    browser: false,
    node: true,
  },
  settings: {
    "import/resolver": {
      "@jsenv/importmap-eslint-resolver": {
        node: true,
      },
    },
  },
})

// and any file ending with .cjs as written for Node.js with commonjs module resolution
eslintConfig.overrides.push({
  files: ["**/*.cjs"],
  env: {
    es6: true,
    browser: false,
    node: true,
  },
  settings: {
    "import/resolver": {
      node: true,
    },
  },
})

module.exports = eslintConfig

About

Case sensitivity

This resolver is case sensitive by default: An import is found only if the import path and actual file on the filesystem have same case.

import { getUser } from "./getUser.js"

The import above is found only if there is a file getUser.js. It won't be found if file is named getuser.js, even if the filesystem is case insensitive.

This ensure two things:

• Project is compatible with Windows or other operating system where filesystem is case sensitive.
• import paths are consistent with what is actually on the filesystem

Case sensitivity can be disabled using caseSensitive parameter

Node module resolution

As mentionned previously this resolver behaves by default like a browser. It must be configured to be compatible node module resolution.

If your file is written for node, please inform the resolver using node parameter so that it consider node core modules as found.

Before seing how to get node module resolution, please note there is two distinct resolution:

• Commonjs module resolution
• ES module resolution

Node esm resolution

The importmap file must contain all the mappings corresponding to the node esm resolution algorithm. You can do this by using @jsenv/node-module-import-map to generate your importmap file.

Node commonjs resolution

Configure the resolver to use node as in Advanced configuration example

Extensionless import

Extensionless import means an import where the specifier omits the file extension.

import { value } from "./file"

But these type of specifier are problematic: you don't know where to look at for the corresponding file.

• Is it ./file ?
• Is it ./file.js ?
• Is it ./file.ts ?

The best solution to avoid configuring your brain and your browser is to keep the extension on the specifier.

- import { value } from './file'
+ import { value } from './file.js'

But if for some reason this is problematic you can allow extensionless specifiers using defaultExtension parameter

Bare specifier

A specifier is what is written after the from keyword in an import statement.

import value from "specifier"

If there is no mapping of "specifier" to "./specifier.js" the imported file will not be found. This is because import map consider "specifier" as a special kind of specifier called bare specifier. And every bare specifier must have a mapping or it cannot be resolved. To fix this either add a mapping or put explicitely "./specifier.js".

Please note that "specifier.js" is also a bare specifier. You should write "./specifier.js" instead.