Troubleshoot common issues

Troubleshooting confusing scenarios while developing with the Bare runtime. See Runtime and languages for background, or Migrate a Node.js app to Bare if you're porting an existing app.

Looking for Pear CLI or deployment issues instead? See Pear's troubleshooting guide. Looking for peer-to-peer building-block issues instead? See P2P's troubleshooting guide.

Missing builtin Modules when Running with Bare

Bare doesn't ship every Node.js builtin. If a module throws MODULE_NOT_FOUND for a builtin like fs or path, it likely means the module was written for Node.js only.

Writing a module with Support for Bare & Node.js

Use bare as a package export condition alongside node to point at a Bare-compatible entry point:

{
  "name": "my-module",
  "exports": {
    ".": {
      "bare": "./index-bare.js",
      "node": "./index-node.js",
      "default": "./index.js"
    }
  }
}

Running Third-Party Modules Written for Node.js

If a third-party module has no bare export condition and depends on Node.js-only builtins, it can't run under Bare unchanged. Check for a Bare-compatible alternative, or wrap the missing builtin with a polyfill package.

AddonError: ADDON_NOT_FOUND: Cannot find addon when running Bare

This means a native addon required by a module wasn't built or bundled for the current platform/architecture. Rebuild the addon for your target, or confirm the module publishes prebuilds for it.

bare-pack with conditional module loading

bare-pack bundles by statically resolving require/import calls, so conditionally loaded modules (require(cond ? 'a' : 'b')) can be missed and omitted from the bundle. If you see:

Error: Cannot find module 'my-conditional-dep'

at runtime from a packed app, but not when running unpacked, make the conditional require explicit (e.g. two separate static require calls with the condition wrapping them) so bare-pack can see both branches.

See also

• Bare modules reference—the full list of Bare's built-in and bare-* modules.
• Migrate a Node.js app to Bare—porting an existing Node.js app, including the builtin/addon issues above.
• Runtime and languages—how Bare fits into the wider Pear stack.