Vite "Could not load <file> (imported by <file>)" - Fix in CI

By Kaveh Alemi·Latchkey

During vite build, Rollup resolved an import to a path but then failed to read the file from disk. The specifier mapped to something that does not exist - a missing file, a casing mismatch, or an extension the resolver did not append.

What this error means

The build fails with Could not load <path> (imported by <file>): ENOENT: no such file or directory. It surfaces in the production Rollup pass, so vite dev may have tolerated it.

error during build:
Could not load /app/src/utils/format (imported by src/App.tsx):
ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/app/src/utils/format'

Diagnose it: is it resolution, transform, or memory?

Bundler failures in CI fall into three families and the error text often points at the wrong one. A module that resolves on your machine and not on the runner is nearly always case sensitivity or a missing optional dependency; a transform error is a config or version mismatch; and an unexplained kill with no stack is the out-of-memory reaper, not a build error at all.

# 1. resolution: does the file exist with EXACTLY that case?
git ls-files | grep -i "the/imported/path"

# 2. transform: what versions is CI actually resolving?
npm ls webpack vite rollup esbuild typescript 2>/dev/null | head -20

# 3. memory: was it killed rather than failed?
#    exit 137 = SIGKILL (OOM). Nothing in the bundler log will explain it.
node --max-old-space-size=4096 node_modules/.bin/vite build

Common causes

File missing or wrong case

The imported file does not exist at that path, or its casing differs from the import. Case-sensitive Linux runners fail where macOS did not.

Missing extension the build does not infer

Importing without an extension where the resolver cannot guess it (or an asset import without a matching plugin) leaves Rollup with a path it cannot read.

How to fix it

Verify the file and its exact case

Confirm the target exists at the imported path with matching casing.

ls -la src/utils/   # check for format.ts vs Format.ts
# correct the import or rename the file to match

Make extensions resolvable

Add the extension to the import, or configure resolve.extensions so the build can append it.

// vite.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  resolve: { extensions: ['.ts', '.tsx', '.js', '.jsx', '.json'] },
})

Make the build reproducible before you debug it

• Pin the Node major in setup-node and in engines. A bundler that resolves native bindings will pick a different prebuilt binary across majors.
• Delete node_modules locally and reinstall from the lockfile before concluding the runner is at fault; most "works locally" reports are stale local state.
• Set CI=true locally to reproduce. Several toolchains change behaviour under it, including treating warnings as errors.
• Exit code 137 is an out-of-memory kill. Raise --max-old-space-size or move to a larger runner rather than searching the bundler config.

How to prevent it

• Run vite build in CI so disk-load failures surface before deploy.
• Match import casing to filenames for case-sensitive runners.
• Keep resolve.extensions aligned with the extensions you omit in imports.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• Node.js documentation
• npm CLI documentation
• GitHub Actions documentation