vitejs/vite · error · Error

[vite] transform failed for module '${url}' imported from '$

Error message

[vite] transform failed for module '${url}' imported from '${importer}'.

What it means

Thrown by fetchModule() during SSR when environment.transformRequest(url) returns null/undefined, meaning the transform pipeline produced no usable output for the module. This is a downstream symptom: the real cause (syntax error, failing plugin, unresolved import) is usually logged separately before this error.

Source

Thrown at packages/vite/src/node/ssr/fetchModule.ts:94

      ? 'module'
      : 'commonjs'
    return { externalize: file, type }
  }

  url = unwrapId(url)

  const mod = await environment.moduleGraph.ensureEntryFromUrl(url)
  const cached = !!mod.transformResult

  // if url is already cached, we can just confirm it's also cached on the server
  if (options.cached && cached) {
    return { cache: true }
  }

  let result = await environment.transformRequest(url)

  if (!result) {
    throw new Error(
      `[vite] transform failed for module '${url}'${
        importer ? ` imported from '${importer}'` : ''
      }.`,
    )
  }

  if (options.inlineSourceMap !== false) {
    result = inlineSourceMap(mod, result, options.startOffset)
  }

  // remove shebang
  if (result.code[0] === '#')
    result.code = result.code.replace(/^#!.*/, (s) => ' '.repeat(s.length))

  return {
    code: result.code,
    file: mod.file,
    id: mod.id!,

View on GitHub (pinned to b4d66fee14)

Solutions

Look at the error logged immediately before this one — the actual transform failure (syntax error, plugin error) is reported there.
Open the failing module (the url in the message) and fix the syntax/parse error or the bad import.
If a plugin owns the transform, ensure its transform hook throws on failure rather than returning null.
Clear node_modules/.vite cache and restart the dev server to rule out a stale transform cache.

Example fix

// The message names the failing url and importer.
// Fix the root cause in that file, e.g.:
// before (module.ts)
export const x = { a: 1  // syntax error
// after
export const x = { a: 1 }

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try {
  await server.ssrLoadModule(url)
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e?.message).startsWith('[vite] transform failed')) {
    // surface the earlier transform error, fix the source module
    console.error(e)
  }
  throw e
}

Prevention

Watch the dev-server console — the real transform error is logged before this one.
Validate source files compile (tsc/eslint) before SSR-loading them.
Ensure plugin transform hooks throw rather than return null on failure.

When it happens

Trigger: SSR loading a module whose transform returns null — caused by a syntax error in the file, a plugin transform hook that returned null without throwing, a failed dependency resolve, or the module being skipped. The null check is at ssr/fetchModule.ts:93.

Common situations: A syntax/parse error in a source file surfaced first via SSR (ssrLoadModule / module runner). A plugin whose transform hook rejects or returns null. A circular or missing dependency that makes transformRequest bail. Node ESM/CJS interop edge cases.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of vitejs/vite@b4d66fee14 (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/02221f30150f02b8. Report an issue: GitHub.