Critical dependency: the request of a dependency is an expression

[cmw-big]

WARNING in ./node_modules/.pnpm/express@4.18.1/node_modules/express/lib/view.js 81:13-25 Critical dependency: the request of a dependency is an expression at CommonJsRequireContextDependency.getWarnings (C:\Users\cmw10\Desktop\codes\react-ssr\node_modules\.pnpm\webpack@5.74.0_webpack-cli@4.10.0\node_modules\webpack\lib\dependencies\ContextDependency.js:102:18) at Compilation.reportDependencyErrorsAndWarnings (C:\Users\cmw10\Desktop\codes\react-ssr\node_modules\.pnpm\webpack@5.74.0_webpack-cli@4.10.0\node_modules\webpack\lib\Compilation.js:3132:24) at C:\Users\cmw10\Desktop\codes\react-ssr\node_modules\.pnpm\webpack@5.74.0_webpack-cli@4.10.0\node_modules\webpack\lib\Compilation.js:2729:28 at _next2 (eval at create (C:\Users\cmw10\Desktop\codes\react-ssr\node_modules\.pnpm\tapable@2.2.1\node_modules\tapable\lib\HookCodeFactory.js:33:10), <anonymous>:16:1) at eval (eval at create (C:\Users\cmw10\Desktop\codes\react-ssr\node_modules\.pnpm\tapable@2.2.1\node_modules\tapable\lib\HookCodeFactory.js:33:10), <anonymous>:42:1) at C:\Users\cmw10\Desktop\codes\react-ssr\node_modules\.pnpm\webpack@5.74.0_webpack-cli@4.10.0\node_modules\webpack\lib\FlagDependencyExportsPlugin.js:385:11 at C:\Users\cmw10\Desktop\codes\react-ssr\node_modules\.pnpm\neo-async@2.6.2\node_modules\neo-async\async.js:2830:7 at Object.each (C:\Users\cmw10\Desktop\codes\react-ssr\node_modules\.pnpm\neo-async@2.6.2\node_modules\neo-async\async.js:2850:39) at C:\Users\cmw10\Desktop\codes\react-ssr\node_modules\.pnpm\webpack@5.74.0_webpack-cli@4.10.0\node_modules\webpack\lib\FlagDependencyExportsPlugin.js:361:18 at C:\Users\cmw10\Desktop\codes\react-ssr\node_modules\.pnpm\neo-async@2.6.2\node_modules\neo-async\async.js:2830:7 @ ./node_modules/.pnpm/express@4.18.1/node_modules/express/lib/application.js 22:11-28 @ ./node_modules/.pnpm/express@4.18.1/node_modules/express/lib/express.js 18:12-36 @ ./node_modules/.pnpm/express@4.18.1/node_modules/express/index.js 11:0-41 @ ./src/server.tsx 3:0-30 8:12-19 @ ./src/index.ts 1:0-18

[krzysdz]

Template engine support in Express requires dynamic module resolution, which doesn't play nicely with Webpack.

express/lib/view.js

Lines 80 to 81 in d854c43

	// default engine export
	var fn = require(mod).__express

You can find more details about your problem and possible solutions in webpack/webpack#1576. Probably webpack/webpack#1576 (comment) is what you're looking for.

[PathToLife]

I've linked a discussion on webpack side of things.

It seems the code in question is dynamically importing a template-engine for purposes of rendering templates
https://expressjs.com/en/guide/using-template-engines.html

A template engine example is:
https://expressjs.com/en/resources/template-engines.html

If we really want to bundle express in webpack output, then we can ignore this warning...

There's only two things to consider:

1. Making sure template-engine library is bundled or installed with build code, we can perhaps just make sure project code imports the library somewhere
2. Making sure webpack output e.g main.js is still able to require('template-engine')
3. Making sure rendering is functional.