[PnP] Cannot find the package "electron"

[rtritto]

Pre-flight checklist

• I have read the contribution documentation for this project.
• I agree to follow the code of conduct that this project uses.
• I have searched the issue tracker for a bug that matches the one I want to file, without success.

Electron Forge version

7.4.0

Electron version

30.1.0

Vite version

5.0.12

Operating system

Windows 11

Last known working Electron Forge version

No response

Expected behavior

No error

Actual behavior

✔ Checking your system
✔ Locating application
✔ Loading configuration
✔ Preparing native dependencies [0.4s]
✔ Running generateAssets hook

The CJS build of Vite's Node API is deprecated. See https://vitejs.dev/guide/troubleshooting.html#vite-cjs-node-api-deprecated for more details.
✔ [plugin-vite] Launching dev servers for renderer process code [1s]
✔ [plugin-vite] Compiling main process code [2s]

➜  Local:   http://localhost:5173/
  ➜  Network: use --host to expose
vite v5.2.12 building for development...

watching for file changes...
vite v5.2.12 building for development...

watching for file changes...

build started...

build started...
transforming (1) src\preload.ts
transforming (1) src\main.ts
✓ 1 modules transformed.
Generated an empty chunk: "preload".
✓ 1 modules transformed.
rendering chunks (1)...
rendering chunks (1)...
computing gzip size (0)...
computing gzip size (1)...
.vite/build/preload.mjs  0.05 kB │ gzip: 0.07 kB │ map: 0.09 kB
built in 85ms.
computing gzip size (0)...
computing gzip size (1)...
.vite/build/main.js  0.90 kB │ gzip: 0.47 kB │ map: 2.53 kB
built in 88ms.

An unhandled rejection has occurred inside Forge:
Error: Cannot find the package "electron". Perhaps you need to run "yarn install" in "C:\<PROJECT_PATH>"?
at getElectronPackageJSONPath (C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Yarn\Berry\cache\@electron-forge-core-utils-npm-7.4.0-881d5c9e73-10c0.zip\node_modules\@electron-forge\core-utils\src\electron-version.ts:69:11)
    at async getElectronModulePath (C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Yarn\Berry\cache\@electron-forge-core-utils-npm-7.4.0-881d5c9e73-10c0.zip\node_modules\@electron-forge\core-utils\src\electron-version.ts:82:27)
    at async locateElectronExecutable (C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Yarn\Berry\cache\@electron-forge-core-npm-7.4.0-4c33fc0cff-10c0.zip\node_modules\@electron-forge\core\src\util\electron-executable.ts:9:50)
    at async forgeSpawn (C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Yarn\Berry\cache\@electron-forge-core-npm-7.4.0-4c33fc0cff-10c0.zip\node_modules\@electron-forge\core\src\api\start.ts:157:28)
    at async forgeSpawnWrapper (C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Yarn\Berry\cache\@electron-forge-core-npm-7.4.0-4c33fc0cff-10c0.zip\node_modules\@electron-forge\core\src\api\start.ts:200:23)
    at async C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Yarn\Berry\cache\@electron-forge-core-npm-7.4.0-4c33fc0cff-10c0.zip\node_modules\@electron-forge\core\src\api\start.ts:235:21       
    at async C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Yarn\Berry\cache\@electron-forge-tracer-npm-7.4.0-9f71f99d40-10c0.zip\node_modules\@electron-forge\tracer\src\index.ts:51:14        
    at async C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Yarn\Berry\cache\@electron-forge-cli-npm-7.4.0-bdb0634abf-10c0.zip\node_modules\@electron-forge\cli\src\electron-forge-start.ts:61:1

Steps to reproduce

• Clone https://github.com/caoxiemeihao/electron-vite-samples/tree/main/forge-esm-ts (you can use https://download-directory.github.io)

• yarn set version berry

• Add to .yarnrc.yml

  nodeLinker: pnp
  
  packageExtensions:
  # Ghost dependency https://github.com/electron/windows-installer/issues/516
  "electron-winstaller@*":
    dependencies:
      semver: "*"

• yarn add -D @electron-forge/shared-types @types/node (add peer dependencies)

• yarn electron-forge start

Additional information

With nodeLinker: node-modules (instead of nodeLinker: pnp) it works.

The error "Cannot find the package "electron"" imply that forge.config.cts file isn't found or is empty.

Related #3209 #3502 #3572 #3582 yarnpkg/berry#1020

[rtritto]

FYI @caoxiemeihao @merceyz

[rtritto]

Some open points:

1. maybe this issue will be fixed with feat(core): support ESM Forge module loading #3582 because forge.config.ts should work instead of forge.config.cts
2. should the PnP loader be added to ts-node (example: yarn node --loader ts-node/esm --loader ./.pnp.loader.mjs ./src/main.ts)?
3. can the ts-node use be replaced with tsx or tslib?

[rtritto]

FYI @Mike-Dax @alecmev @SpacingBat3

[rtritto]

@merceyz what is the correct resolution for yarn berry / PnP?

forge/packages/utils/core-utils/src/electron-version.ts

Lines 37 to 43 in 38f64e4

	async function determineNodeModulesPath(dir: string, packageName: string): Promise<string | undefined> {
	const nodeModulesPath: string | undefined = path.join(dir, 'node_modules', packageName);
	if (await fs.pathExists(nodeModulesPath)) {
	return nodeModulesPath;
	}
	return findAncestorNodeModulesPath(dir, packageName);
	}

I opened discussions: #6323 #8185

[merceyz]

Use require.resolve to locate dependencies regardless of whether PnP is used or not.

require.resolve(`${packageName}/package.json`, { paths: [dir] });