[ERROR] Expected identifier but found "import"

[shinokada]

Describe the bug

After a fresh installation, running pnpm dev, pnpm test:e2e and pnpm build returns the following errors:
(This happens without running pnpm update as well.)

> playwright test

[WebServer] ✘ [ERROR] Expected identifier but found "import"
[WebServer] 
[WebServer]     (define name):1:0:
[WebServer]       1 │ import.meta.dirname
[WebServer]         ╵ ~~~~~~
[WebServer] 
[WebServer] ✘ [ERROR] Expected identifier but found "import"
[WebServer] 
[WebServer]     (define name):1:0:
[WebServer]       1 │ import.meta.filename
[WebServer]         ╵ ~~~~~~
[WebServer] 
[WebServer] ✘ [ERROR] Expected identifier but found "import"
[WebServer] 
[WebServer]     (define name):1:0:
[WebServer]       1 │ import.meta.url
[WebServer]         ╵ ~~~~~~
[WebServer] 
[WebServer] failed to load config from /Users/shinichiokada/Downloads/svelte/svelte-test/vite.config.ts
[WebServer] error during build:
[WebServer] Error: Build failed with 3 errors:
[WebServer] (define name):1:0: ERROR: Expected identifier but found "import"
[WebServer] (define name):1:0: ERROR: Expected identifier but found "import"
[WebServer] (define name):1:0: ERROR: Expected identifier but found "import"
[WebServer]     at failureErrorWithLog (/Users/shinichiokada/Downloads/svelte/svelte-test/node_modules/.pnpm/esbuild@0.24.1/node_modules/esbuild/lib/main.js:1476:15)
[WebServer]     at /Users/shinichiokada/Downloads/svelte/svelte-test/node_modules/.pnpm/esbuild@0.24.1/node_modules/esbuild/lib/main.js:945:25
[WebServer]     at runOnEndCallbacks (/Users/shinichiokada/Downloads/svelte/svelte-test/node_modules/.pnpm/esbuild@0.24.1/node_modules/esbuild/lib/main.js:1316:45)
[WebServer]     at buildResponseToResult (/Users/shinichiokada/Downloads/svelte/svelte-test/node_modules/.pnpm/esbuild@0.24.1/node_modules/esbuild/lib/main.js:943:7)
[WebServer]     at /Users/shinichiokada/Downloads/svelte/svelte-test/node_modules/.pnpm/esbuild@0.24.1/node_modules/esbuild/lib/main.js:970:16
[WebServer]     at responseCallbacks.<computed> (/Users/shinichiokada/Downloads/svelte/svelte-test/node_modules/.pnpm/esbuild@0.24.1/node_modules/esbuild/lib/main.js:622:9)
[WebServer]     at handleIncomingPacket (/Users/shinichiokada/Downloads/svelte/svelte-test/node_modules/.pnpm/esbuild@0.24.1/node_modules/esbuild/lib/main.js:677:12)
[WebServer]     at Socket.readFromStdout (/Users/shinichiokada/Downloads/svelte/svelte-test/node_modules/.pnpm/esbuild@0.24.1/node_modules/esbuild/lib/main.js:600:7)
[WebServer]     at Socket.emit (node:events:518:28)
[WebServer]     at addChunk (node:internal/streams/readable:561:12)
Error: Process from config.webServer was not able to start. Exit code: 1

Reproduction

npx sv create svelte-app
cd svelte-app
pnpm update
pnpm test:e2e

Logs

No response

System Info

npx envinfo --system --npmPackages svelte,rollup,webpack --binaries --browsers

   System:
    OS: macOS 15.2
    CPU: (10) arm64 Apple M2 Pro
    Memory: 81.20 MB / 16.00 GB
    Shell: 5.9 - /bin/zsh
  Binaries:
    Node: 22.11.0 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v22.11.0/bin/node
    npm: 10.9.0 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v22.11.0/bin/npm
    pnpm: 9.15.1 - /opt/homebrew/bin/pnpm
    bun: 1.1.8 - ~/.bun/bin/bun
  Browsers:
    Chrome: 131.0.6778.205
    Edge: 131.0.2903.112
    Safari: 18.2
  npmPackages:
    svelte: ^5.15.0 => 5.15.0 

Severity

blocking an upgrade

[taariqelliott]

Thought I was the only one! I tried with pnpm & bun and couldn't understand what was going on until I realized creating a new project doesn't generate the .svelte-kit folder which seems to be the issue. Hopefully this gets fixed soon.

[yaman-cruise]

It's the second time this week that I've been blocked from working because Svelte doesn't work anymore. Who is responsible for QA? They should reduce the frequency of updates and focus more on stability.

[YosephBiniyam]

This just happed to me too, Glad I am not the only one.

[wiesson]

It's the second time this week that I've been blocked from working because Svelte doesn't work anymore. Who is responsible for QA? They should reduce the frequency of updates and focus more on stability.

What an inappropriate comment. I think an apology on your part would be nice.

[stephane-vanraes]

This is due to some breaking changes introduced in the latest vite package
Drop the version of vite back to v5 and it should work again.

[spences10]

@yaman-cruise take some time and read back what you put in your comment

You want to speak to the manager do you?

If you're unhappy you can always have your money back

[spences10]

This is due to some breaking changes introduced in the latest vite package Drop the version of vite back to v5 and it should work again.

also @sveltejs/vite-plugin-svelte if you upgraded that to v5

[yaman-cruise]

You guys are right. Let's focus more on a workaround until it's fixed. But I see there is already one.

[dominikg]

caused by a change in esbuild 0.24.1, evanw/esbuild#4010

workaround is to pin it to 0.24.0 via package.json resolutions or pnpm.overrides

[dominikg]

also see sveltejs/cli#366

there is nothing to be done on the svelte side, just wait for it to be fixed and use 0.24.0 until then

[shinokada]

For now running the following works for me:

pnpm add -D esbuild@=0.24.0
pnpm dedupe

[YosephBiniyam]

For now running the following works for me:

pnpm add -D esbuild@=0.24.0
pnpm dedupe

Thanks @shinokada, It worked for me.