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Node 25.7.0 runtime failure from yargs v17 (require is not defined) #708
Description
After Node 25.7.0 rollout in Homebrew (homebrew/homebrew-core#269249), marp-cli fails at runtime due to yargs v17.
Error:
ReferenceError: require is not defined in ES module scope, you can use import instead
at .../node_modules/yargs/yargs:3
Node.js v25.7.0
Homebrew failure evidence:
Local repro with Homebrew bottle:
marp --versionfails with the same stack
Upstream context:
- yargs issue for Node 25.7 + yargs v17: Node.js v25.7 and 26 breaks yargs v16 and v17 yargs/yargs#2509
Could you cut a fix/release compatible with Node 25.7+ (or otherwise advise a supported workaround)?
Reacted by Martin Roa Villescas, Jonathon Vandezande, Alan and Thomas Schouten
Activity
yhatt commentedon Mar 2, 2026
Thank you for organizing the issue clearly 👍
As workarounds, you can either use a standalone binary (bundles a compatible version of Node.js) or use a stable release of Node.js (even-numbered versions).
The root cause is expected to be resolved by an update to yargs, #670. However, since it includes incompatibilities with older versions of Node.js, it would be difficult to merge the update immediately. Currently we have to wait for the upstream patch release.
stefanhaerter commentedon Mar 3, 2026
+1 on this issue. Experienced it with Arch Linux. Temporarily downgraded nodejs to 25.4 again - leaving the instructions here in case they are useful: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Downgrading_packages
yhatt commentedon Mar 3, 2026
It seems Node.js is addressing an incompatible change in nodejs/node#62083. It will probably be fixed in a future version update.
yhatt commentedon Mar 7, 2026
yhatt commentedon Mar 11, 2026
Node.js 25.8.1 has been released, with including fixed module resolution.
Note
An upcoming Node.js 26+ will reintroduce the renewed module resolution behavior, which revives an error in the current yargs v17. yargs is currently working on forward compatibility: yargs/yargs#2514
yhatt commentedon May 5, 2026
Node.js v26 has been released! However, the fix PR of yargs is not yet merged and shipped, so this error is re-introduced in Node.js 26.
stefanhaerter commentedon May 5, 2026
Thank you for the heads up 😊
yhatt commentedon May 6, 2026
Fixed in v4.4.0. We're getting an error because Marp CLI uses yargs via
require('yargs/yargs'), so we've bundled yargs into Marp CLI to avoid this.yhatt commentedon Jun 19, 2026
Note
yargs has been released the patch version for v16 and v17 to resolve this problem. Even if used older version of Marp CLI in Node.js 26, this error should not be reproduced if installed the latest v17 yargs release by following the semver range specified in
package.json