Jiti handles imports incorrectly in Node 22.12+ after a require(esm) call fails

[thecrypticace]

Environment

OS: macOS 15.2
Node: v22.12.0
NPM: v10.9.0

Reproduction

https://github.com/thecrypticace/node-22-jiti-bug

Describe the bug

Node 22.12 backported require(esm) support and it appears there's a bug either in Node or in Jiti that's causing imported files to be handled incorrectly.

This bug reproduces under the following conditions:

• A require(esm) call is used
• That call fails and is caught by a try/catch block
• Jiti is then used to import that same file

The imports inside that file may not return correct results. In this case a function is being returned as an empty object.

When Jiti is used by itself the bug does not happen — only in conjunction with a failed require(esm) call. The one in this repo fails because its importing a file without using a file extension:

import file from "./file";

If you add the file extension, the bug does not happen because the require(esm) call works:

import file from "./file.js";

Additional context

I'm one of the maintainer's for Tailwind CSS and several users have reported plugins not working in Tailwind CSS v3.x with the latest versions of Node.js. I tracked this down to a function being turned into an object — likely because of an issue with import handling.

This bug appears to affect:

• Node v22.12+
• Node v23.0+
• macOS / Windows (haven't tested Linux but probably the same)
• Jiti 2's sync and async methods for importing files are both affected
• Jiti 1 is also affected (this is what we use in Tailwind CSS v3 currently)

Logs

N/A

[pi0]

Thanks for the report and reproduction. I can confirm behavior change.

Will investigate to find a workaround to this (my guess is require-cache).

BTW are you aware that jiti itself always tries native import before fallback? (this means by upgrading to jiti v2 you can remove try/catch altogether)

[pi0]

Update: I also can confirm the issue happens because Node.js require-cache will become half broken in the first require() attempt.

Current workaround is using requireCache: false option (or JITI_REQUIRE_CACHE=0) this makes jiti use its standalone cache.

[pi0]

I prepared a solution however not sure if it is safe or better to ask Node.js fix it upstream.. #348

[pi0]

v1.21.7 + v2.4.2 released with hotfix. (confirmed fix on your reproduction)