Error: Cannot find package '@vue/devtools-api' imported from

[fruitoiz]

I get this error when opening the page:

root@ujf:~# pm2 start .output/server/index.mjs --no-daemon
pm2 launched in no-daemon mode (you can add DEBUG="*" env variable to get more messages)
[PM2] Starting /root/.output/server/index.mjs in fork_mode (1 instance)
[PM2] Done.
┌────┬──────────┬─────────────┬─────────┬─────────┬──────────┬────────┬──────┬───────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ id │ name     │ namespace   │ version │ mode    │ pid      │ uptime │ ↺    │ status    │ cpu      │ mem      │ user     │ watching │
├────┼──────────┼─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┼────────┼──────┼───────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ 0  │ index    │ default     │ 0.0.0   │ fork    │ 38929    │ 0s     │ 0    │ online    │ 0%       │ 16.9mb   │ root     │ disabled │
└────┴──────────┴─────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────┴────────┴──────┴───────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘
[--no-daemon] Continue to stream logs
[--no-daemon] Exit on target PM2 exit pid=38741
21:40:56 0|index  | Listening on http://[::]:3000
21:40:59 0|index  | [request error] [unhandled] [GET] https://????.com/
21:40:59 0|index  |  H3Error: Cannot find package '@vue/devtools-api' imported from /root/.output/server/node_modules/vue-router/dist/devtools-EWN81iOl.mjs
21:40:59 0|index  |     at Object.getPackageJSONURL (node:internal/modules/package_json_reader:301:9)
21:40:59 0|index  |     ... 8 lines matching cause stack trace ...
21:40:59 0|index  |     at ModuleJob.syncLink (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:160:33) {
21:40:59 0|index  |   cause: Error: Cannot find package '@vue/devtools-api' imported from /root/.output/server/node_modules/vue-router/dist/devtools-EWN81iOl.mjs
21:40:59 0|index  |       at Object.getPackageJSONURL (node:internal/modules/package_json_reader:301:9)
21:40:59 0|index  |       at packageResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:768:81)
21:40:59 0|index  |       at moduleResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:859:18)
21:40:59 0|index  |       at defaultResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:991:11)
21:40:59 0|index  |       at ModuleLoader.#cachedDefaultResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:719:20)
21:40:59 0|index  |       at ModuleLoader.#resolveAndMaybeBlockOnLoaderThread (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:736:38)
21:40:59 0|index  |       at ModuleLoader.resolveSync (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:765:52)
21:40:59 0|index  |       at ModuleLoader.#resolve (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:701:17)
21:40:59 0|index  |       at ModuleLoader.getOrCreateModuleJob (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:621:35)
21:40:59 0|index  |       at ModuleJob.syncLink (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:160:33) {
21:40:59 0|index  |     code: 'ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND'
21:40:59 0|index  |   },
21:40:59 0|index  |   statusCode: 500,
21:40:59 0|index  |   fatal: false,
21:40:59 0|index  |   unhandled: true,
21:40:59 0|index  |   statusMessage: undefined,
21:40:59 0|index  |   data: undefined
21:40:59 0|index  | }

package.json:

{
  "name": "scambye",
  "type": "module",
  "private": true,
  "scripts": {
    "build": "nuxt build",
    "dev": "nuxt dev --host 0.0.0.0",
    "generate": "nuxt generate",
    "preview": "nuxt preview",
    "postinstall": "nuxt prepare"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@pinia/nuxt": "^0.11.3",
    "@tailwindcss/vite": "^4.1.18",
    "nuxt": "^4.3.1",
    "pinia": "^3.0.4",
    "swiper": "^12.0.3",
    "tailwindcss": "^4.1.18",
    "vue": "^3.5.30",
    "vue-router": "^4.5.1"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@iconify-json/bxl": "^1.2.4",
    "@iconify-json/solar": "^1.2.5",
    "@nuxt/icon": "^2.1.1",
    "daisyui": "^5.5.18"
  }
}

root@ujf:~# node -v
v24.14.0
root@ujf:~# npm -v
11.11.0
root@ujf:~# pm2 -v
6.0.14

how to solve this?

[everton-dgn]

The error comes from vue-router's devtools chunk (devtools-EWN81iOl.mjs), which does a runtime import of @vue/devtools-api. Nuxt 4 bundles vue-router internally and in prod that chunk still gets emitted unless devtools are stripped out.

Two fixes, depending on whether you want the chunk gone or just resolvable.

1. Install the missing package so Nitro ships it in .output/server/node_modules:

npm install @vue/devtools-api
nuxt build

2. Tree-shake the devtools chunk out of the production build:

// nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  vite: {
    define: {
      __VUE_PROD_DEVTOOLS__: false,
    },
  },
})

With __VUE_PROD_DEVTOOLS__ set to false, vue-router's devtools integration gets removed at build time, so the missing import never runs. This is the one I'd go with for prod since it also strips the chunk itself.

One more thing worth checking: remove vue-router from your own dependencies if it's declared there. Nuxt 4 manages its own version internally, and a parallel ^4.5.1 declaration can cause PM2's runtime to resolve the wrong copy.