Microfrontend Cannot find module error for module federation

Question

Has anyone ever dealt with this issue before? I am currently following this tutorial

This is how my App.tsx looks in button microfrontend:

import React from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom";

import "./index.css";
import Header from "home/Header"; // Cannot find module 'home/Header' or its corresponding type declarations.
import Footer from "home/Footer"; //Cannot find module 'home/Header' or its corresponding type declarations.

const App = () => (
  <div className="container">
    <Header />
    <h4>button content</h4>
    <h4>Language: TypeScript</h4>
    <h4>CSS: Empty CSS</h4>
    <Footer />
  </div>
);
ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.getElementById("app"));

I simply made the following change in my webpack.config.js file in the button folder:

plugins: [
    new ModuleFederationPlugin({
      name: "button",
      filename: "remoteEntry.js",
      remotes: {
        home: "home@http://localhost:3000/remoteEntry.js"
      },
      exposes: {},

and here is the change in my home microfrontend webpack.config.js file:

  plugins: [
    new ModuleFederationPlugin({
      name: "home",
      filename: "remoteEntry.js",
      remotes: {},
      exposes: {
        "./Header": "./src/Header.tsx",
        "./Footer": "./src/Footer.tsx",
      },

Basically I am able to expose the modules from home and use those components in button but I am getting this TS error about modules not being able to be found despite it working just fine. Here is my folder structure as well:

folderstructure

Here is my tsconfig.json in button as well:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "jsx": "react",
    /* Visit https://aka.ms/tsconfig.json to read more about this file */

    /* Projects */
    // "incremental": true,                              /* Enable incremental compilation */
    // "composite": true,                                /* Enable constraints that allow a TypeScript project to be used with project references. */
    // "tsBuildInfoFile": "./",                          /* Specify the folder for .tsbuildinfo incremental compilation files. */
    // "disableSourceOfProjectReferenceRedirect": true,  /* Disable preferring source files instead of declaration files when referencing composite projects */
    // "disableSolutionSearching": true,                 /* Opt a project out of multi-project reference checking when editing. */
    // "disableReferencedProjectLoad": true,             /* Reduce the number of projects loaded automatically by TypeScript. */

    /* Language and Environment */
    "target": "es2016",                                  /* Set the JavaScript language version for emitted JavaScript and include compatible library declarations. */
    // "lib": [],                                        /* Specify a set of bundled library declaration files that describe the target runtime environment. */
    // "jsx": "preserve",                                /* Specify what JSX code is generated. */
    // "experimentalDecorators": true,                   /* Enable experimental support for TC39 stage 2 draft decorators. */
    // "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,                    /* Emit design-type metadata for decorated declarations in source files. */
    // "jsxFactory": "",                                 /* Specify the JSX factory function used when targeting React JSX emit, e.g. 'React.createElement' or 'h' */
    // "jsxFragmentFactory": "",                         /* Specify the JSX Fragment reference used for fragments when targeting React JSX emit e.g. 'React.Fragment' or 'Fragment'. */
    // "jsxImportSource": "",                            /* Specify module specifier used to import the JSX factory functions when using `jsx: react-jsx*`.` */
    // "reactNamespace": "",                             /* Specify the object invoked for `createElement`. This only applies when targeting `react` JSX emit. */
    // "noLib": true,                                    /* Disable including any library files, including the default lib.d.ts. */
    // "useDefineForClassFields": true,                  /* Emit ECMAScript-standard-compliant class fields. */

    /* Modules */
    "module": "commonjs",                                /* Specify what module code is generated. */
    // "rootDir": "./",                                  /* Specify the root folder within your source files. */
    // "moduleResolution": "node",                       /* Specify how TypeScript looks up a file from a given module specifier. */
    // "baseUrl": "./",                                  /* Specify the base directory to resolve non-relative module names. */
    // "paths": {},                                      /* Specify a set of entries that re-map imports to additional lookup locations. */
    // "rootDirs": [],                                   /* Allow multiple folders to be treated as one when resolving modules. */
    // "typeRoots": [],                                  /* Specify multiple folders that act like `./node_modules/@types`. */
     "types": ["node"],                                      /* Specify type package names to be included without being referenced in a source file. */
    // "allowUmdGlobalAccess": true,                     /* Allow accessing UMD globals from modules. */
    // "resolveJsonModule": true,                        /* Enable importing .json files */
    // "noResolve": true,                                /* Disallow `import`s, `require`s or `<reference>`s from expanding the number of files TypeScript should add to a project. */

    /* JavaScript Support */
    // "allowJs": true,                                  /* Allow JavaScript files to be a part of your program. Use the `checkJS` option to get errors from these files. */
    // "checkJs": true,                                  /* Enable error reporting in type-checked JavaScript files. */
    // "maxNodeModuleJsDepth": 1,                        /* Specify the maximum folder depth used for checking JavaScript files from `node_modules`. Only applicable with `allowJs`. */

    /* Emit */
    // "declaration": true,                              /* Generate .d.ts files from TypeScript and JavaScript files in your project. */
    // "declarationMap": true,                           /* Create sourcemaps for d.ts files. */
    // "emitDeclarationOnly": true,                      /* Only output d.ts files and not JavaScript files. */
    // "sourceMap": true,                                /* Create source map files for emitted JavaScript files. */
    // "outFile": "./",                                  /* Specify a file that bundles all outputs into one JavaScript file. If `declaration` is true, also designates a file that bundles all .d.ts output. */
    // "outDir": "./",                                   /* Specify an output folder for all emitted files. */
    // "removeComments": true,                           /* Disable emitting comments. */
    // "noEmit": true,                                   /* Disable emitting files from a compilation. */
    // "importHelpers": true,                            /* Allow importing helper functions from tslib once per project, instead of including them per-file. */
    // "importsNotUsedAsValues": "remove",               /* Specify emit/checking behavior for imports that are only used for types */
    // "downlevelIteration": true,                       /* Emit more compliant, but verbose and less performant JavaScript for iteration. */
    // "sourceRoot": "",                                 /* Specify the root path for debuggers to find the reference source code. */
    // "mapRoot": "",                                    /* Specify the location where debugger should locate map files instead of generated locations. */
    // "inlineSourceMap": true,                          /* Include sourcemap files inside the emitted JavaScript. */
    // "inlineSources": true,                            /* Include source code in the sourcemaps inside the emitted JavaScript. */
    // "emitBOM": true,                                  /* Emit a UTF-8 Byte Order Mark (BOM) in the beginning of output files. */
    // "newLine": "crlf",                                /* Set the newline character for emitting files. */
    // "stripInternal": true,                            /* Disable emitting declarations that have `@internal` in their JSDoc comments. */
    // "noEmitHelpers": true,                            /* Disable generating custom helper functions like `__extends` in compiled output. */
    // "noEmitOnError": true,                            /* Disable emitting files if any type checking errors are reported. */
    // "preserveConstEnums": true,                       /* Disable erasing `const enum` declarations in generated code. */
    // "declarationDir": "./",                           /* Specify the output directory for generated declaration files. */
    // "preserveValueImports": true,                     /* Preserve unused imported values in the JavaScript output that would otherwise be removed. */

    /* Interop Constraints */
    // "isolatedModules": true,                          /* Ensure that each file can be safely transpiled without relying on other imports. */
    // "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,             /* Allow 'import x from y' when a module doesn't have a default export. */
    "esModuleInterop": true,                             /* Emit additional JavaScript to ease support for importing CommonJS modules. This enables `allowSyntheticDefaultImports` for type compatibility. */
    // "preserveSymlinks": true,                         /* Disable resolving symlinks to their realpath. This correlates to the same flag in node. */
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,            /* Ensure that casing is correct in imports. */

    /* Type Checking */
    "strict": true,                                      /* Enable all strict type-checking options. */
    // "noImplicitAny": true,                            /* Enable error reporting for expressions and declarations with an implied `any` type.. */
    // "strictNullChecks": true,                         /* When type checking, take into account `null` and `undefined`. */
    // "strictFunctionTypes": true,                      /* When assigning functions, check to ensure parameters and the return values are subtype-compatible. */
    // "strictBindCallApply": true,                      /* Check that the arguments for `bind`, `call`, and `apply` methods match the original function. */
    // "strictPropertyInitialization": true,             /* Check for class properties that are declared but not set in the constructor. */
    // "noImplicitThis": true,                           /* Enable error reporting when `this` is given the type `any`. */
    // "useUnknownInCatchVariables": true,               /* Type catch clause variables as 'unknown' instead of 'any'. */
    // "alwaysStrict": true,                             /* Ensure 'use strict' is always emitted. */
    // "noUnusedLocals": true,                           /* Enable error reporting when a local variables aren't read. */
    // "noUnusedParameters": true,                       /* Raise an error when a function parameter isn't read */
    // "exactOptionalPropertyTypes": true,               /* Interpret optional property types as written, rather than adding 'undefined'. */
    // "noImplicitReturns": true,                        /* Enable error reporting for codepaths that do not explicitly return in a function. */
    // "noFallthroughCasesInSwitch": true,               /* Enable error reporting for fallthrough cases in switch statements. */
    // "noUncheckedIndexedAccess": true,                 /* Include 'undefined' in index signature results */
    // "noImplicitOverride": true,                       /* Ensure overriding members in derived classes are marked with an override modifier. */
    // "noPropertyAccessFromIndexSignature": true,       /* Enforces using indexed accessors for keys declared using an indexed type */
    // "allowUnusedLabels": true,                        /* Disable error reporting for unused labels. */
    // "allowUnreachableCode": true,                     /* Disable error reporting for unreachable code. */

    /* Completeness */
    // "skipDefaultLibCheck": true,                      /* Skip type checking .d.ts files that are included with TypeScript. */
    "skipLibCheck": true                                 /* Skip type checking all .d.ts files. */
  }
}

How should I resolve these errors? I've played with tsconfig.json and there doesn't seem to be a solution. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

To resolve this issue, just create a modulename.d.ts file and declare the modules that you exposed. For reference, you can check screenshots.

Answer 2

Same as other answers but the error will show when you close that declaration file. An additional step is to create a types folder in the src directory and declare your modules and types in a .d.ts file inside the types folder. For example 'declarations.d.ts'

Answer 3

To get vscode to behave:

Inside the ./src directory create a file tsremote_declarations.ts (Name doesn't matter). Declare the modules in the file.

declare module "home/Header";
declare module "home/Footer";

VSCode will no longer show the error.

Answer 4

I had the same issue and dealt with it in the following way

tsconfig.json

"baseUrl": "./../{remote project name}/src",
"paths": {
"collabee/common": ["mf.ts"]
}

Disadvantage 1. A problem arises due to a change in basurl in a deployment execution environment such as Jenkins

Disadvantage 2. All developers must have the same path and folder name

Answer 5

Despite the fact that it ran perfectly in runtime by pulling in the exposed components from home, TypeScript will do its checks at compile time. This can be negated by creating declaration files. To aid the process of development, a declaration file will resolve types that have not been explicitly declared