jestjs/jest · error · Error

notify reporter requires optional peer dependency "node-noti

Error message

notify reporter requires optional peer dependency "node-notifier" but it was not found

What it means

Thrown by loadNotifier() in NotifyReporter when the 'node-notifier' module cannot be required (require throws MODULE_NOT_FOUND). node-notifier is an OPTIONAL peer dependency of jest-reporters — it is only needed for the desktop-notification (notify) feature. When the user enables --notify or notify:true in config, NotifyReporter is constructed eagerly at class-load time, so the constructor's loadNotifier runs and rethrows the helpful message if the package isn't installed.

Source

Thrown at packages/jest-reporters/src/NotifyReporter.ts:166

          title,
        });
      }
    }

    this._context.previousSuccess = success;
    this._context.firstRun = false;
  }
}

function loadNotifier(): typeof import('node-notifier') {
  try {
    return require('node-notifier');
  } catch (error: any) {
    if (error.code !== 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND') {
      throw error;
    }

    throw new Error(
      'notify reporter requires optional peer dependency "node-notifier" but it was not found',
    );
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to f49721c78e)

Solutions

1. Install the optional peer dependency: npm install --save-dev node-notifier (or yarn/pnpm equivalent).
2. If you don't need desktop notifications, remove --notify from CLI args or set notify: false in jest config.
3. Ensure the install is recorded in package.json so CI/teammates get it too.

Example fix

// before: jest --notify  -> error
// after: install the dep
// npm install --save-dev node-notifier
// then jest --notify works

// Before enabling --notify, ensure node-notifier is installed
function hasNodeNotifier(): boolean {
  try { require.resolve('node-notifier'); return true; }
  catch { return false; }
}
if (process.env.JEST_NOTIFY === '1' && !hasNodeNotifier()) {
  console.warn('notify requested but node-notifier is missing; run: npm i -D node-notifier');
} else {
  // safe to enable notify
}

// Wrap the reporter setup so a missing optional dep doesn't crash the whole run
try {
  NotifyReporter;
} catch (err: any) {
  if (/node-notifier/.test(err?.message ?? '')) {
    console.warn('Disabling notify: node-notifier not installed');
    // drop NotifyReporter from the reporters list
  } else {
    throw err;
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running jest with --notify (CLI) or notify: true in jest config without having installed node-notifier; adding NotifyReporter to the reporters array without the dependency. The require('node-notifier') call inside loadNotifier throws MODULE_NOT_FOUND, which is caught and rethrown as this friendly Error.

Common situations: CI or fresh clone where node-notifier was never added to package.json; team enables notify locally for macOS notifications but forgets to declare the dep; upgrading jest and the notify feature was newly enabled by a teammate's config.

Related errors

• The option summaryThreshold should be a number

AI-assisted analysis of jestjs/jest@f49721c78e (2026-08-03). Data as JSON: /data/errors/63c8f7afeb4fe04b.json. Report an issue: GitHub.