import-in-the-middle

What is import-in-the-middle?

The 'import-in-the-middle' npm package allows developers to intercept and modify module imports in Node.js. This can be useful for debugging, logging, or altering the behavior of modules without modifying their source code.

What are import-in-the-middle's main functionalities?

Intercepting Module Imports

This feature allows you to intercept the import of specified modules ('fs' and 'path' in this case) and execute custom logic (logging in this example) whenever these modules are imported.

const { addHook } = require('import-in-the-middle');

addHook(['fs', 'path'], (exports, name, baseDir) => {
  console.log(`Module ${name} is being imported from ${baseDir}`);
  return exports;
});

const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');

Modifying Module Exports

This feature allows you to modify the exports of a module. In this example, a custom method is added to the 'fs' module.

const { addHook } = require('import-in-the-middle');

addHook(['fs'], (exports, name, baseDir) => {
  if (name === 'fs') {
    exports.customMethod = () => console.log('Custom method added to fs');
  }
  return exports;
});

const fs = require('fs');
fs.customMethod(); // Outputs: Custom method added to fs

Other packages similar to import-in-the-middle

require-in-the-middle

The 'require-in-the-middle' package provides similar functionality for intercepting and modifying module imports, but it is specifically designed for CommonJS modules using 'require'. It does not support ES modules.

proxyquire

The 'proxyquire' package allows you to override dependencies during testing. It is more focused on providing mock implementations for dependencies, whereas 'import-in-the-middle' is more general-purpose for intercepting and modifying imports.

mock-require

The 'mock-require' package is used to mock Node.js modules during testing. It allows you to replace modules with mock implementations, similar to 'proxyquire', but it does not provide the same level of interception and modification capabilities as 'import-in-the-middle'.

README

import-in-the-middle

import-in-the-middle is an module loading interceptor inspired by require-in-the-middle, but specifically for ESM modules. In fact, it can even modify modules after loading time.

Usage

The API for require-in-the-middle is followed as closely as possible as the default export. There are lower-level addHook and removeHook exports available which don't do any filtering of modules, and present the full file URL as a parameter to the hook. See the Typescript definition file for detailed API docs.

You can modify anything exported from any given ESM or CJS module that's imported in ESM files, regardless of whether they're imported statically or dynamically.

import { Hook } from 'import-in-the-middle'
import { foo } from 'package-i-want-to-modify'

console.log(foo) // whatever that module exported

Hook(['package-i-want-to-modify'], (exported, name, baseDir) => {
  // `exported` is effectively `import * as exported from ${url}`
  exported.foo += 1
})

console.log(foo) // 1 more than whatever that module exported

This requires the use of an ESM loader hook, which can be added with the following command-line option.

node --loader=import-in-the-middle/hook.mjs my-app.mjs

Since --loader has been deprecated you can also register the loader hook programmatically via the Node module.register() API. However, for this to be able to hook non-dynamic imports, it needs to be registered before your app code is evaluated via the --import command-line option.

my-loader.mjs

import * as module from 'module'

module.register('import-in-the-middle/hook.mjs', import.meta.url)

node --import=./my-loader.mjs ./my-code.mjs

When registering the loader hook programmatically, it's possible to pass a list of modules, file URLs or regular expressions to either exclude or specifically include which modules are intercepted. This is useful if a module is not compatible with the loader hook.

Note: This feature is incompatible with the {internals: true} Hook option

import * as module from 'module'

// Exclude intercepting a specific module by name
module.register('import-in-the-middle/hook.mjs', import.meta.url, {
  data: { exclude: ['package-i-want-to-exclude'] }
})

// Only intercept a specific module by name
module.register('import-in-the-middle/hook.mjs', import.meta.url, {
  data: { include: ['package-i-want-to-include'] }
})

Only Intercepting Hooked modules

Note: This feature is experimental and is incompatible with the {internals: true} Hook option

If you are Hook'ing all modules before they are imported, for example in a module loaded via the Node.js --import CLI argument, you can configure the loader to intercept only modules that were specifically hooked.

instrument.mjs

import { register } from 'module'
import { Hook, createAddHookMessageChannel } from 'import-in-the-middle'

const { registerOptions, waitForAllMessagesAcknowledged } = createAddHookMessageChannel()

register('import-in-the-middle/hook.mjs', import.meta.url, registerOptions)

Hook(['fs'], (exported, name, baseDir) => {
  // Instrument the fs module
})

// Ensure that the loader has acknowledged all the modules 
// before we allow execution to continue
await waitForAllMessagesAcknowledged()

my-app.mjs

import * as fs from 'fs'
// fs will be instrumented!
fs.readFileSync('file.txt')

node --import=./instrument.mjs ./my-app.mjs

Limitations

• You cannot add new exports to a module. You can only modify existing ones.
• While bindings to module exports end up being "re-bound" when modified in a hook, dynamically imported modules cannot be altered after they're loaded.
• Modules loaded via require are not affected at all.

Changelog

1.11.0 (2024-07-29)

Features

• Optionally only wrap modules hooked in --import (#146) (71c8d7b)

Bug Fixes

• node: prefixed build-in modules with include/exclude (#149) (736a944)