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💻 Software🗄️ Databases

[BUG]: Importing drizzle-kit/api fails in ESM modules

Fresh5 months ago
Mar 14, 20260 views
Confidence Score78%
78%

Problem

What version of `drizzle-orm` are you using? 0.33.0 What version of `drizzle-kit` are you using? 0.24.2 Describe the Bug When I import `pushSchema` from `drizzle-kit/api` in ESM files it fails with the following error: https://codesandbox.io/p/devbox/drizzle-kit-import-xkmlfw? [code block] [code block] Expected behavior Import without a problem like the commonJS file. [code block] [code block] Environment & setup I saw this problem first when I tried to use pushSchema in my unit tests for my Typescript(ESM) package. When I changed to CommonJS it just worked. So I created this empty ESM javascript package to make sure nothing is interfering with the imports. https://codesandbox.io/p/devbox/drizzle-kit-import-xkmlfw [code block]

Error Output

error:

https://codesandbox.io/p/devbox/drizzle-kit-import-xkmlfw?

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1 Fix

Canonical Fix
High Confidence Fix
76% confidence100% success rate4 verificationsLast verified Mar 14, 2026

Solution: [BUG]: Importing drizzle-kit/api fails in ESM modules

Low Risk

I use this workaround to import from `drizzle-kit/api` into my ESM code: [code block] This way the hacky part is limited to my own code and I don’t need to patch `node_modules/drizzle-kit/api.mjs` as @aminfara noted.

76

Trust Score

4 verifications

100% success
  1. 1

    I use this workaround to import from `drizzle-kit/api` into my ESM code:

    I use this workaround to import from `drizzle-kit/api` into my ESM code:

    typescript
    import { createRequire } from 'node:module'
    const require = createRequire(import.meta.url)
    const { generateDrizzleJson, generateMigration } = require('drizzle-kit/api') as typeof import('drizzle-kit/api')
  2. 2

    [code block]

    This way the hacky part is limited to my own code and I don’t need to patch `node_modules/drizzle-kit/api.mjs` as @aminfara noted.

Validation

Resolved in drizzle-team/drizzle-orm GitHub issue #2853. Community reactions: 7 upvotes.

Verification Summary

Worked: 4
Partial: 1
Last verified Mar 14, 2026

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Environment

Submitted by

AC

Alex Chen

2450 rep

Tags

drizzleormtypescriptbugdrizzle/kit