[ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME]

[NathanHannon]

When I try to run snapai, whether its installed or via npx on Windows, I get the following error:

Error [ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME]: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
    at throwIfUnsupportedURLScheme (node:internal/modules/esm/load:209:11)
    at defaultLoad (node:internal/modules/esm/load:107:3)
    at ModuleLoader.load (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:800:12)
    at ModuleLoader.loadAndTranslate (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:580:43)
    at #createModuleJob (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:604:36)
    at #getJobFromResolveResult (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:338:34)
    at ModuleLoader.getModuleJobForImport (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:306:41)
    at async onImport.tracePromise.__proto__ (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:643:25) {
  code: 'ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME'
}

I suspect its related to #1.

[Zettersten]

node:internal/modules/esm/load:236
    throw new ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME(parsed, schemes);
          ^

Error [ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME]: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
    at throwIfUnsupportedURLScheme (node:internal/modules/esm/load:236:11)
    at defaultLoad (node:internal/modules/esm/load:128:3)
    at ModuleLoader.load (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:409:13)
    at ModuleLoader.moduleProvider (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:291:56)
    at new ModuleJob (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:65:26)
    at #createModuleJob (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:303:17)
    at ModuleLoader.getJobFromResolveResult (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:260:34)
    at ModuleLoader.getModuleJob (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:241:17)
    at async ModuleLoader.import (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:328:23) {
  code: 'ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME'
}

Node.js v20.10.0

$ npm list -g snapai

C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\npm
-- snapai@0.4.0

[betomoedano]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

Since I don’t have a Windows machine, it’s a bit tricky for me to reproduce it. I think this is a straightforward fix, if someone wants to give it a try.

Otherwise, I can take a look next weekend :)

[onigetoc]

I asked chatGPT how you should fix it. It's because path in Windows and Mac are not the same.
I know this because i'm on Windows and i have to convert path for Mac, Linux sometime. Just ask AI to fix it or help with this.

Openai Chat and fix : https://chatgpt.com/share/689e82e0-56dc-8007-8854-ef6e6b1de9c6

That error happens because Node’s ESM loader on Windows doesn’t understand raw C:... style paths in import/import() calls — they must be converted to proper file:// URLs.
On macOS/Linux, / paths work fine, so the developer probably never noticed.

What’s going on

In an ESM ("type": "module") project, when you dynamically import or load a file with import() or import.meta.resolve, Node expects URLs like:

file:///C:/path/to/file.js

Not:
file:///C:/path/to/file.js

How to fix

1. Use pathToFileURL for local file imports
   If anywhere in the code the developer is doing:

import(somePath);

and somePath is a normal Windows path like C:\Users\me\project\file.js,
replace it with:

import(pathToFileURL(somePath).href);

You’ll need:

import { pathToFileURL } from 'url';

Go to the link i shared for the full response: https://chatgpt.com/share/689e82e0-56dc-8007-8854-ef6e6b1de9c6

Update, i just found https://www.npmjs.com/package/os-paths that may help. I check for myself too for a electron js app.
Check at the end of the shared ChatGPT conversation.

[CharlesLightjarvis]

@betomoedano Hi Beto im facing the same issue on windows.. was that already fixed ? thanks

[kfrancis]

Waiting on this as well.

Equally, when trying to run this under WSL Ubuntu - a similar error:

TypeError: Invalid URL
     at new URL (node:internal/url:818:25)
     at fromFile (C:\Users\kfrancis\AppData\Local\nvm\v22.17.1\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-package-arg\lib\npa.js:263:15)
     at resolve (C:\Users\kfrancis\AppData\Local\nvm\v22.17.1\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-package-arg\lib\npa.js:71:12)
     at npa (C:\Users\kfrancis\AppData\Local\nvm\v22.17.1\node_modules\npm\node_modules\npm-package-arg\lib\npa.js:53:10)
     at FetcherBase.get (C:\Users\kfrancis\AppData\Local\nvm\v22.17.1\node_modules\npm\node_modules\pacote\lib\fetcher.js:474:16)
     at Object.manifest (C:\Users\kfrancis\AppData\Local\nvm\v22.17.1\node_modules\npm\node_modules\pacote\lib\index.js:20:29)
     at hasPkgBin (C:\Users\kfrancis\AppData\Local\nvm\v22.17.1\node_modules\npm\node_modules\libnpmexec\lib\index.js:82:10)
     at exec (C:\Users\kfrancis\AppData\Local\nvm\v22.17.1\node_modules\npm\node_modules\libnpmexec\lib\index.js:137:17)
     at Exec.callExec (C:\Users\kfrancis\AppData\Local\nvm\v22.17.1\node_modules\npm\lib\commands\exec.js:79:12)
     at Exec.exec (C:\Users\kfrancis\AppData\Local\nvm\v22.17.1\node_modules\npm\lib\commands\exec.js:28:17)

[glenkitchen]

With bun, you can use the --bun option to use the bun runtime instead of nodejs
E.g. bunx --bun snapai --help

[buger]

As the person who ships a lot of on-prem tools, the easiest way to handle such issues would be configure a simple pipeline in github, adding some openai mock, and letting this workflow to run on ubuntu, mac and window runners, like here https://github.com/probelabs/probe/blob/main/.github/workflows/integration-test.yml

[elkillao]

Hi @betomoedano I am also having the same issue:

node:internal/modules/esm/load:241
throw new ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME(parsed, schemes);
^

Error [ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME]: Only URLs with a scheme in: file, data, and node are supported by the default ESM loader. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. Received protocol 'c:'
at throwIfUnsupportedURLScheme (node:internal/modules/esm/load:241:11)
at defaultLoad (node:internal/modules/esm/load:132:3)
at ModuleLoader.load (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:724:12)
at ModuleLoader.loadAndTranslate (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:543:56)
at #createModuleJob (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:567:36)
at #getJobFromResolveResult (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:297:34)
at ModuleLoader.getModuleJobForImport (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:265:41)
at async ModuleLoader.import (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:605:23) {
code: 'ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME'
}

Node.js v20.19.5

[betomoedano]

Hello, I just published 0.4.1 with a possible fix for windows.

Can someone try and see if the issue is fixed?

You can run: npx snapai@latest --help

Thank you.

[chuysbz]

With bun, you can use the --bun option to use the bun runtime instead of nodejs E.g. bunx --bun snapai --help

This worked for me in Windows. Thanks.