[Bug] Build fails when srcDir is set to a directory outside project root

[kawamataryo]

First of all, thank you for creating Vitepress - it's an amazing tool. I really appreciate all the hard work that goes into maintaining it.

Description

When configuring Vitepress with a srcDir that points to a directory outside the project root, the build process fails with a "Rollup failed to resolve import 'vue'" error.

$ vitepress build

  vitepress v1.6.3

x Build failed in 12ms
✖ building client + server bundles...
build error:
[vite]: Rollup failed to resolve import "vue" from "/xxxxx/vitepress-src-dir-bug/api-examples.md".
This is most likely unintended because it can break your application at runtime.
If you do want to externalize this module explicitly add it to
`build.rollupOptions.external`
[vite]: Rollup failed to resolve import "vue" from "/xxxxx/vitepress-src-dir-bug/api-examples.md".
This is most likely unintended because it can break your application at runtime.
If you do want to externalize this module explicitly add it to
`build.rollupOptions.external`

Reproduction

I've created a reproduction repository: vitepress-src-dir-bug

Reproduce step

$ git clone  https://github.com/kawamataryo/vitepress-src-dir-bug
$ cd vitepress-example
$ yarn
$ yarn docs:dev // It work
$ yarn docs:build // It don't work

Expected behavior

Vitepress should successfully build the documentation regardless of the srcDir location.

System Info

System:
    OS: macOS 14.5
    CPU: (8) arm64 Apple M2
    Memory: 449.28 MB / 24.00 GB
    Shell: 5.9 - /bin/zsh
  Binaries:
    Node: 20.17.0 - ~/.asdf/installs/nodejs/20.17.0/bin/node
    Yarn: 1.22.22 - ~/.asdf/installs/nodejs/20.17.0/bin/yarn
    npm: 10.8.2 - ~/.asdf/plugins/nodejs/shims/npm
    pnpm: 10.3.0 - ~/.asdf/installs/nodejs/20.17.0/bin/pnpm
    bun: 1.0.29 - /opt/homebrew/bin/bun
    Watchman: 2024.12.02.00 - /opt/homebrew/bin/watchman
  Browsers:
    Chrome: 133.0.6943.143
    Edge: 134.0.3124.51
    Safari: 17.5

Additional context

No response

Validations

• Check if you're on the latest VitePress version.
• Follow our Code of Conduct
• Read the docs.
• Check that there isn't already an issue that reports the same bug to avoid creating a duplicate.

[brc-dd]

Hmm, the issue is that it needs vue to be resolvable from that markdown file. So, srcDir technically works, but you need to install vitepress on the outer package.json. This structure will work:

Alternatively,

// vitepress-example/.vitepress/config.mts

import { createRequire } from 'node:module'
import { defineConfig } from 'vitepress'

const require = createRequire(import.meta.url)

export default defineConfig({
  // ...
  vite: {
    resolve: {
      alias: {
        'vue/server-renderer': require.resolve('vue/server-renderer'),
        vue: require.resolve('vue')
      }
    }
  }
})

But you might need doing this for all deps.

PS: Most likely also related to #3035. It probably should fail dev too.

Might have some edge cases, but seems to work:

  vite: {
    plugins: [
      {
        name: 'node-resolve-from-different-root',
        resolveId(id) {
          try {
            const resolve = require.resolve(id)
            if (resolve) return { id: resolve }
          } catch (e) {}
        }
      }
    ]
  }

[kawamataryo]

@brc-dd
Thank you for the prompt response! I will attempt to implement the workaround.