Cannot find module 'firebase/app' while deploying Angular Universal app - firebase

Question

I'm dealing with this issue for almost two weeks now. I tried a lot of workarounds but none seems to be working. I've installed angular-fire and firebase to its latest version, tried ng add #angular/fire, configured custom webpack.config.ts, tried rolling back to every suggested previous version. None fixed this issue.
The Actual Error:
de-10#de10-LIFEBOOK-A555:~/Desktop$ node dist/server.js
internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:797
throw err;
^
Error: Cannot find module 'firebase/app'
Require stack:
- /home/de-10/Desktop/dist/server.js
at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:794:15)
at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:687:27)
at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:849:19)
at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:74:18)
at Object.<anonymous> (/home/de-10/Desktop/dist/server.js:125276:18)
at __webpack_require__ (/home/de-10/Desktop/dist/server.js:20:30)
at Module.<anonymous> (/home/de-10/Desktop/dist/server.js:125199:70)
at __webpack_require__ (/home/de-10/Desktop/dist/server.js:20:30)
at Module.<anonymous> (/home/de-10/Desktop/dist/server.js:124984:78)
at __webpack_require__ (/home/de-10/Desktop/dist/server.js:20:30) {
code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
requireStack: [ '/home/de-10/Desktop/dist/server.js' ]
}
And I can't let go of Firebase cause then I face:
ERROR in ../node_modules/#angular/fire/auth/auth.d.ts:4:28 - error TS2307: Cannot find module 'firebase/app'.
4 import { User, auth } from 'firebase/app';
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
../node_modules/#angular/fire/firebase.app.module.d.ts:2:74 - error TS2307: Cannot find module 'firebase/app'.
2 import { auth, database, messaging, storage, firestore, functions } from 'firebase/app';
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
../node_modules/#angular/fire/firestore/collection-group/collection-group.d.ts:2:27 - error TS2307: Cannot find module 'firebase/app'.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
.
.
app/services/notification.service.ts:29:38 - error TS2339: Property 'id' does not exist on type 'QueryDocumentSnapshot<unknown>'.
29 id: snap.payload.doc.id,
~~
app/services/notification.service.ts:68:35 - error TS2339: Property 'type' does not exist on type 'DocumentChange<unknown>'.
68 return snap.payload.type
~~~~
.
.
.
package.json
{
"name": "universal-ssr",
"version": "0.0.0",
"license": "MIT",
"scripts": {
"ng": "ng",
"start": "npm run build:ssr",
"staging": "npm run build:ssr-staging && npm run serve:ssr",
"production": "npm run build:ssr && npm run serve:ssr",
"prod": "npm run build:ssr-production && npm run serve:ssr",
"build": "ng build --prod",
"test": "ng test",
"dev-start": "ng serve",
"ng serve": "ng serve --aot",
"lint": "ng lint",
"e2e": "ng e2e",
"build:ssr": "npm run build:client-and-server-bundles && npm run webpack:server",
"build:ssr-staging": "npm run build:client-and-server-bundles-staging && npm run webpack:server",
"build:ssr-production": "npm run build:client-and-server-bundles-production && npm run webpack:server",
"serve:ssr": "node dist/server.js",
"build:client-and-server-bundles": "ng build --prod --build-optimizer && ng run universal-ssr:server --bundleDependencies all",
"build:client-and-server-bundles-staging": "ng build --c=staging --build-optimizer=true --stats-json && ng run universal-ssr:server",
"build:client-and-server-bundles-production": "ng build --c=production --build-optimizer=true && ng run universal-ssr:server --bundleDependencies all",
"webpack:server": "webpack --config webpack.config.js --progress --colors",
"webpack:analyzer": "webpack-bundle-analyzer dist/browser/stats.json",
"compodoc": "npx compodoc -p src/tsconfig.app.json -o"
},
"private": true,
"dependencies": {
"#angular/animations": "^8.2.14",
"#angular/cdk": "^5.2.5",
"#angular/common": "^8.2.14",
"#angular/compiler": "^8.2.14",
"#angular/core": "^8.2.14",
"#angular/fire": "^5.4.2",
"#angular/forms": "^8.2.14",
"#angular/material": "^5.2.5",
"#angular/platform-browser": "^8.2.14",
"#angular/platform-browser-dynamic": "^8.2.14",
"#angular/platform-server": "^8.2.14",
"#angular/pwa": "^0.803.24",
"#angular/router": "^8.2.14",
"#angular/service-worker": "^8.2.14",
"#ng-bootstrap/ng-bootstrap": "^4.0.0",
"#nguniversal/express-engine": "^6.1.0",
"#nguniversal/module-map-ngfactory-loader": "^6.1.0",
"angular2-datetimepicker": "^1.1.1",
"bootstrap": "^4.4.1",
"city-timezones": "^1.2.0",
"core-js": "^2.6.11",
"cors": "^2.8.4",
"express": "^4.17.1",
"firebase": "^7.13.1",
"jquery": "^3.4.1",
"moment-timezone": "^0.5.27",
"ng-bootstrap": "^1.6.3",
"ng2-search-filter": "^0.5.1",
"ngx-clipboard": "12.2.1",
"ngx-google-places-autocomplete": "^2.0.4",
"ngx-pagination": "^3.3.1",
"ngx-spinner": "^2.0.0",
"ngx-toggle-switch": "^2.0.5",
"ngx-ui-switch": "^8.3.0",
"rxjs": "^6.5.4",
"rxjs-compat": "^6.0.0",
"save": "^2.4.0",
"ts-loader": "^4.0.0",
"tslib": "^1.10.0",
"uuid": "^3.4.0",
"zone.js": "~0.9.1"
},
"devDependencies": {
"#angular-devkit/build-angular": "~0.803.23",
"#angular/cli": "^8.3.23",
"#angular/compiler-cli": "^8.2.14",
"#angular/http": "^7.2.16",
"#angular/language-service": "^8.2.14",
"#types/jasmine": "2.8.3",
"#types/jasminewd2": "^2.0.8",
"#types/node": "^6.14.9",
"codelyzer": "^5.0.1",
"jasmine-core": "~2.8.0",
"jasmine-spec-reporter": "~4.2.1",
"karma": "^4.4.1",
"karma-chrome-launcher": "~2.2.0",
"karma-coverage-istanbul-reporter": "^2.1.1",
"karma-jasmine": "~1.1.0",
"karma-jasmine-html-reporter": "^0.2.2",
"protractor": "5.4.2",
"ts-node": "~4.1.0",
"tslint": "~5.9.1",
"typescript": "~3.5.3",
"webpack-cli": "^3.1.0"
}
}
webpack.config.js:
// Work around for https://github.com/angular/angular-cli/issues/7200
const path = require('path');
const webpack = require('webpack');
// change the regex to include the packages you want to exclude
const regex = /firebase\/(app|firestore)/;
module.exports = {
mode: 'production',
entry: {
// This is our Express server for Dynamic universal
server: './server.ts'
},
externals: {
'./dist/server/main': 'require("./server/main")'
},
target: 'node',
node: {
__dirname: false,
__filename: false,
},
resolve: { extensions: ['.ts', '.js'] },
target: 'node',
mode: 'none',
// this makes sure we include node_modules and other 3rd party libraries
externals: [/node_modules/, function (context, request, callback) {
// exclude firebase products from being bundled, so they will be loaded using require() at runtime.
if (regex.test(request)) {
return callback(null, 'commonjs ' + request);
}
callback();
}],
optimization: {
minimize: false
},
output: {
// Puts the output at the root of the dist folder
path: path.join(__dirname, 'dist'),
filename: '[name].js'
},
module: {
noParse: /polyfills-.*\.js/,
rules: [
{ test: /\.ts$/, loader: 'ts-loader' },
{
// Mark files inside `#angular/core` as using SystemJS style dynamic imports.
// Removing this will cause deprecation warnings to appear.
test: /(\\|\/)#angular(\\|\/)core(\\|\/).+\.js$/,
parser: { system: true },
},
]
},
plugins: [
new webpack.ContextReplacementPlugin(
// fixes WARNING Critical dependency: the request of a dependency is an expression
/(.+)?angular(\\|\/)core(.+)?/,
path.join(__dirname, 'src'), // location of your src
{} // a map of your routes
),
new webpack.ContextReplacementPlugin(
// fixes WARNING Critical dependency: the request of a dependency is an expression
/(.+)?express(\\|\/)(.+)?/,
path.join(__dirname, 'src'),
{}
)
]
};
server.ts:
import 'zone.js/dist/zone-node';
import * as express from 'express';
/* const express = require('express');
const join = require('path'); */
const compression = require('compression')
import { join } from 'path';
// Express server
const app = express();
// gzip
app.use(compression())
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 4000;
const DIST_FOLDER = join(__dirname, 'browser');/* 'dist/browser' */
// * NOTE :: leave this as require() since this file is built Dynamically from webpack
const { AppServerModuleNgFactory, LAZY_MODULE_MAP, ngExpressEngine, provideModuleMap } = require('./dist/server/main');
// Our Universal express-engine (found # https://github.com/angular/universal/tree/master/modules/express-engine)
app.engine('html', ngExpressEngine({
bootstrap: AppServerModuleNgFactory,
providers: [
provideModuleMap(LAZY_MODULE_MAP)
]
}));
app.set('view engine', 'html');
app.set('views', DIST_FOLDER);
// Serve static files from /browser
app.get('*.*', express.static(DIST_FOLDER, {
maxAge: '1y'
}));
// All regular routes use the Universal engine
app.get('*', (req, res) => {
res.render('index', { req });
});
// Start up the Node server
app.listen(PORT, () => {
console.log(`Node Express server listening on http://localhost:${PORT}`);
});

Answer 1

You're getting this error because you're excluding firebase dependencies with this =>
const regex = /firebase\/(app|firestore)/;
module.exports = {
// this makes sure we include node_modules and other 3rd party libraries
externals: [/node_modules/, function (context, request, callback) {
// exclude firebase products from being bundled, so they will be loaded using require() at runtime.
if (regex.test(request)) {
return callback(null, 'commonjs ' + request);
}
callback();
}],
};
Remove this
if (regex.test(request)) {
return callback(null, 'commonjs ' + request);
}
and your app will be fine.

Answer 2

One workaround is to install npm packages (firebase and #angular/fire) beside the dist folder and then run the deployment script.