slidevjs/slidev · critical · Error

Failed to resolve global package "${name}"

Error message

Failed to resolve global package "${name}"

What it means

Thrown by findGlobalPkgRoot(name, ensure: true) when none of the resolution paths yield the package: not in the cli's own node_modules, not in any invocation search path, not in yarn global packages, not in npm global packages. The ensure: true overload returns a string or throws.

Source

Thrown at packages/slidev/node/resolver.ts:275

  const localPath = await findDepPkgJsonPath(name, cliRoot)
  if (localPath)
    return dirname(localPath)
  for (const nm of invocationSearchPaths) {
    const direct = join(nm, ...name.split('/'), 'package.json')
    if (existsSync(direct))
      return dirname(direct)
    const walked = await findDepPkgJsonPath(name, nm)
    if (walked)
      return dirname(walked)
  }
  const yarnPath = join(globalDirs.yarn.packages, name)
  if (existsSync(`${yarnPath}/package.json`))
    return yarnPath
  const npmPath = join(globalDirs.npm.packages, name)
  if (existsSync(`${npmPath}/package.json`))
    return npmPath
  if (ensure)
    throw new Error(`Failed to resolve global package "${name}"`)
}

export async function resolveEntry(entryRaw: string) {
  if (!existsSync(entryRaw) && !entryRaw.endsWith('.md') && !RE_PATH_SEPARATOR.test(entryRaw))
    entryRaw += '.md'
  const entry = resolve(entryRaw)
  if (!existsSync(entry)) {
    // Check if stdin is available for prompts (i.e., is a TTY)
    if (!process.stdin.isTTY) {
      console.error(`Entry file "${entry}" does not exist and cannot prompt for confirmation`)
      process.exit(1)
    }
    const { create } = await prompts({
      name: 'create',
      type: 'confirm',
      initial: 'Y',
      message: `Entry file ${yellow(`"${entry}"`)} does not exist, do you want to create it?`,
    })

View on GitHub (pinned to 0d798ace58)

Solutions

1. Install the package globally: npm i -g <name> (or yarn global add <name>).
2. Verify the global packages directory matches what Slidev scans: check npm config get prefix and yarn global dir.
3. For pnpm globals, ensure PNPM_HOME is set and the v11 layout is intact.
4. Prefer running Slidev project-locally so the dependency resolves from node_modules instead of global paths.

Example fix

// before: theme missing from global install
findGlobalPkgRoot('@slidev/theme-seriph', true) // throws

// after: install globally
// shell:
npm i -g @slidev/theme-seriph

import globalDirs from 'global-directory'
import { existsSync } from 'node:fs'
import { join } from 'pathe'

function globallyInstalled(name: string): boolean {
  return existsSync(join(globalDirs.npm.packages, name, 'package.json'))
    || existsSync(join(globalDirs.yarn.packages, name, 'package.json'))
}

// before findGlobalPkgRoot(name, true):
if (!globallyInstalled(name)) {
  throw new Error(`Install ${name} globally: npm i -g ${name}`)
}

function isGloballyInstalled(name: string): boolean {
  return existsSync(join(globalDirs.npm.packages, name, 'package.json'))
    || existsSync(join(globalDirs.yarn.packages, name, 'package.json'))
}

try {
  return await findGlobalPkgRoot(name, true)
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.startsWith('Failed to resolve global package ')) {
    throw new Error(`${name} not installed globally; run npm i -g ${name}`)
  }
  throw e
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling findGlobalPkgRoot(name, true) for a package that is not installed globally and not bundled with the cli. Reached when Slidev runs globally and a required global dependency is absent.

Common situations: Global Slidev install missing a globally-required theme/addon/plugin; PNPM_HOME/npm global prefix misconfigured so global packages aren't where the code looks; yarn vs npm global layout mismatch.

Related errors

• Failed to resolve package "${importName}"
• Failed to resolve package "${dep}"
• Invalid ${type} name "${name}". Only valid npm package names
• [slidev] Cannot find roots without entry

AI-assisted analysis of slidevjs/slidev@0d798ace58 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/332ac8f8b91d0ef7. Report an issue: GitHub.