9.3.x uninstallable with npm >=12: ionic-theme-utils is git-only and its ESM import lacks a file extension

[Revisor01]

Summary

Since 9.3.0, @rdlabo/ionic-theme-ios26 cannot be installed with npm ≥ 12, and even when installation succeeds the package fails to load under ESM. Two separate problems, both in @rdlabo/ionic-theme-utils.

Last working version for us: 9.1.0. Reproduced on 9.3.4.

Problem 1 — ionic-theme-utils is not published to npm

9.3.x depends on it via a git URL:

"dependencies": {
  "@rdlabo/ionic-theme-utils": "git+https://github.com/rdlabo-dev/ionic-theme-utils.git#e82be4389d9209750229f5fee990046b5b1217da"
}

The package itself is not on the registry:

$ npm view @rdlabo/ionic-theme-utils versions
npm error 404 Not Found - GET https://registry.npmjs.org/@rdlabo%2fionic-theme-utils

npm 12 refuses git dependencies by default:

npm error code EALLOWGIT
npm error Fetching packages of type "git" have been disabled

Two consequences:

1. Consumers must set allow-git=all in .npmrc. The value cannot be scoped to a single package (--allow-git=@rdlabo/ionic-theme-utils → Must be one of: all, none, root), and root does not apply because the git dependency sits inside a third-party package. So the only workaround relaxes git fetching for the entire dependency tree.
2. The lockfile entry npm writes for the nested package has no resolved and no integrity:

"node_modules/@rdlabo/ionic-theme-ios26/node_modules/@rdlabo/ionic-theme-utils": {
  "version": "0.1.0"
}

The parent entry is complete (registry URL + sha512), so this looks like an npm bug in how it locks git dependencies of registry packages — but the effect is that the nested dependency has no verifiable source.

This also makes the failure environment-dependent and easy to miss: locally the built files may survive from an earlier install, so tests pass; CI starts from an empty tree and fails.

Problem 2 — extensionless relative import under "type": "module"

ionic-theme-utils sets "type": "module", but dist/index.js emits:

export { createIosTransitionAnimation, shadow, } from './transition/ios.transition';

ESM requires the full file extension. dist/transition/ios.transition.js does exist, but Node will not resolve it:

Error: Cannot find module '.../dist/transition/ios.transition'
  imported from .../dist/index.js

Looks like tsc is run without moduleResolution settings that rewrite/preserve .js extensions for ESM output.

Note that the git repo ships no dist/ — it is built on install via prepare. So consumers additionally need install scripts to run for that dependency.

Suggested fixes

1. Publish @rdlabo/ionic-theme-utils to npm and depend on it by version. This removes the allow-git requirement, restores integrity hashing, and makes npm ci reproducible.
2. Emit explicit .js extensions in the compiled ESM output (e.g. write the import as ./transition/ios.transition.js in the source, since TypeScript preserves specifiers verbatim).

(1) alone does not fix (2) — both are needed.

Environment

• npm 12.0.2, Node 22 (local) and Node 26 (CI)
• @ionic/react 9.0.3
• Failing version: @rdlabo/ionic-theme-ios26@9.3.4
• Last known good: 9.1.0

[rdlabo]

Thank you for the detailed report. You’re right on both points. We had been using the Git dependency to speed up development, but it creates the installation problems you described. We also tested the package mainly through Angular builds and missed that its ESM output needs to work directly for JavaScript consumers.

I’ve addressed both issues and plan to include the fixes in the next minor release. Thanks again for taking the time to investigate and explain them so clearly.

[rdlabo]

Thanks again for reporting this. The fixes are now available in @rdlabo/ionic-theme-ios26@9.4.0 and @rdlabo/ionic-theme-ios27@1.1.0, both using the published @rdlabo/ionic-theme-utils@0.1.1 package.

The shared package now ships built JavaScript with explicit .js extensions in its ESM imports. The themes depend on its npm release instead of a Git URL, so allow-git=all should no longer be needed for this dependency.

Could you try @rdlabo/ionic-theme-ios26@9.4.0 with npm 12 in your React/ESM setup and let us know whether installation and loading both work? If you still see an issue, please share the error and your Node/npm versions.

Release notes: iOS 26 v9.4.0 · iOS 27 v1.1.0

[Revisor01]

Thanks for the quick turnaround. I tested @rdlabo/ionic-theme-ios26@9.4.0 in our React/Vite app.

Node 22.22.3, npm 12.0.2.

Problem 1 — fixed. Installation works without allow-git=all. I removed the flag from our .npmrc and ran a clean npm ci: no EALLOWGIT, no git URLs left in package-lock.json. The dependency now resolves to @rdlabo/ionic-theme-utils@0.1.1 from the registry as expected.

Problem 2 — fixed in ionic-theme-utils, but the same issue remains in the theme itself. All imports in ionic-theme-utils/dist/index.js now carry .js, so that part is done. But ionic-theme-ios26@9.4.0 has extensionless relative imports in its own dist/, and a plain Node ESM import still fails:

$ node -e "import('@rdlabo/ionic-theme-ios26')"
ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND
url: .../ionic-theme-ios26/dist/sheets-of-glass/interfaces

12 extensionless specifiers across 5 files in dist/:

'./animations'          './animations/enter'    './animations/leave'
'./index'               './motion'              './segment'
'./tab-bar'             './tab-bar-searchable'  './transition/ios.transition'
'./sheets-of-glass/interfaces'
'./popover/animations/ios.enter'  './popover/animations/ios.leave'

This does not block us: Vite resolves these itself, so our build, dev server and Vitest suite all pass on 9.4.0 with both workarounds removed. It only affects consumers importing the package directly under Node ESM — which is how we originally hit it in a test run.

I'm preparing a PR that adds the missing extensions at the source level.

[Revisor01]

PR is up: #222 — adds the extensions at the source level, 85 specifiers across 26 files. Mechanical change, no config touched.

Verified on Node 22.22.3 / npm 12.0.2: tsc builds clean, nothing extensionless left in dist/, prettier --check passes, and a plain import resolves with all 10 exports.

One thing I left out on purpose: the package is ESM-only but has no "type": "module", so Node warns with MODULE_TYPELESS_PACKAGE_JSON. Adding it breaks prettier.config.js (CommonJS), so that seems like its own change rather than something to slip into this PR.

[rdlabo]

Thank you again for the detailed report and for putting together #222! I closed the PR because I decided to use a shared build-time approach across all three themes, keeping our TypeScript imports aligned with Ionic’s source style.

Your investigation and contribution helped make this fix possible. The implementation is now in place, and I’m planning to release it within the next few days. I really appreciate you bringing this to my attention and taking the time to help!