Babel unexpected token import when running mocha tests

Question

The solutions offered in other related questions, such as including the proper presets (es2015) in .babelrc, are already implemented in my project.

I have two projects (lets call them A and B) which both use ES6 module syntax. In Project A, I'm importing Project B which is installed via npm and lives in the node_modules folder. When I run my test suite for Project A, I'm getting the error:

SyntaxError: Unexpected token import

Which is preceded by this alleged erroneous line of code from Project B:

(function (exports, require, module, __filename, __dirname) { import createBrowserHistory from 'history/lib/createBrowserHistory';

The iife appears to be something npm or possibly babel related since my source file only contains "import createBrowserHistory from 'history/lib/createBrowserHistory'; The unit tests in Project B's test suite runs fine, and if I remove Project B as a dependency from Project A, my test suite then (still using es6 imports for internal project modules) works just fine.

Full Stack Trace:

 SyntaxError: Unexpected token import
    at exports.runInThisContext (vm.js:53:16)
    at Module._compile (module.js:374:25)
    at Module._extensions..js (module.js:405:10)
    at Object.require.extensions.(anonymous function) [as .js] (/ProjectA/node_modules/babel-register/lib/node.js:138:7)
    at Module.load (module.js:344:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:301:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:354:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:12:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (actionCreators.js:4:17)
    at Module._compile (module.js:398:26)
    at loader (/ProjectA/node_modules/babel-register/lib/node.js:130:5)
    at Object.require.extensions.(anonymous function) [as .js] (/ProjectA/node_modules/babel-register/lib/node.js:140:7)
    at Module.load (module.js:344:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:301:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:354:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:12:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/ProjectA/src/components/core/wrapper/wrapper.js:28:23)
    at Module._compile (module.js:398:26)
    at loader (/ProjectA/node_modules/babel-register/lib/node.js:130:5)
    at Object.require.extensions.(anonymous function) [as .js] (/ProjectA/node_modules/babel-register/lib/node.js:140:7)
    at Module.load (module.js:344:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:301:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:354:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:12:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/ProjectA/src/components/core/wrapper/wrapperSpec.js:15:16)
    at Module._compile (module.js:398:26)
    at loader (/ProjectA/node_modules/babel-register/lib/node.js:130:5)
    at Object.require.extensions.(anonymous function) [as .js] (/ProjectA/node_modules/babel-register/lib/node.js:140:7)
    at Module.load (module.js:344:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:301:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:354:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:12:17)
    at /ProjectA/node_modules/mocha/lib/mocha.js:219:27
    at Array.forEach (native)
    at Mocha.loadFiles (/ProjectA/node_modules/mocha/lib/mocha.js:216:14)
    at Mocha.run (/ProjectA/node_modules/mocha/lib/mocha.js:468:10)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/ProjectA/node_modules/mocha/bin/_mocha:403:18)
    at Module._compile (module.js:398:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:405:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:344:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:301:12)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:430:10)
    at startup (node.js:141:18)
    at node.js:980:3

Here is my test command from package.json:

"test": "mocha --compilers js:babel-core/register '+(test|src)/**/*Spec.js'"

This StackOverflow post is similar but doesn't offer a solution for my use of the command line: import a module from node_modules with babel but failed

Answer 1

For Babel <6

The easiest way to solve this problem is:

1. npm install babel-preset-es2015 --save-dev

2. Add .babelrc to the root of the project with contents:

   {
    "presets": [ "es2015" ]
   }
   

Ensure that you are running mocha with the "--compilers js:babel-core/register" parameter.

For Babel6/7+

1. npm install @babel/preset-env --save-dev

2. Add .babelrc to the root of the project with contents:

   {
    "presets": [ "@babel/preset-env" ]
   }
   

Ensure that you are running mocha with the --compilers js:babel-register (Babel 6) or --compilers js:@babel/register (Babel 7) parameter

For mocha version 7 or later, use --require babel-register or --require @babel/register respectively.