Uncaught TypeError: Failed to resolve module specifier in Vanilla Javascript

When have this type of error : Uncaught TypeError: Failed to resolve module specifier. Relative references must start with either "/", "./", or "../”.

Usually, it means you’re using backend node modules in a front app (browser).

The NPM package you are using is likely a package made for node.js code. If in your code, you have something similar to import * as moduleAlias from 'module'; line, it is intended for node.js, and will not work by itself in a browser.

To run these kinds of packages in a browser, you will need to basically convert it using a transpiler. The most common one probably being webpack.

Sometimes packages also include a pre-built or minified version in their package specifically for browsers. If this is the case, you might find a file like something.min.js in the module directory.

import * as moduleAlias from './node_modules/.../module.js';

If this is not the case, you unfortunately have to go down some crazy shit with js build tools.