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Is babel-cli ESM-only? Can you require() it?

Babel command line.

Last verified Sep 9, 2026 against babel-cli@6.26.0. JSON

CommonJS CommonJS — require() works on every Node.js version

babel-cli ships CommonJS only. require("babel-cli") works everywhere. import "babel-cli" also works because Node.js and Bun can import CommonJS from ES modules, but only the default export is guaranteed; named imports depend on Node's static analysis of the module.

Latest
6.26.0 (Aug 16, 2017)
Module format
CommonJS
Last CommonJS version
6.26.0
TypeScript types
None
Node engines
not declared
Weekly downloads
311K
License
MIT

Does babel-cli@6.26.0 actually load? Runtime test results

Installed and executed on Sep 9, 2026 with require("babel-cli") from a CommonJS file and import "babel-cli" from an ES module.

Runtimerequire("babel-cli")import "babel-cli"
Node.js 18✗ failsError: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.✗ failsError: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.
Node.js 20✗ failsError: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.✗ failsError: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.
Node.js 22✗ failsError: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.✗ failsError: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.
Node.js 24✗ failsError: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.✗ failsError: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.
Node.js 26✗ failsError: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.✗ failsError: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.
Bun 1.4✗ failserror: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.✗ failserror: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.

A failing require() on a CommonJS package usually means the package needs a browser/DOM global, a peer dependency, or a native binary that is not available in a bare Node.js process.

How to import babel-cli

ES modules (import)

import babelCli from "babel-cli";

Named imports from a CommonJS package only work when Node.js can statically detect them. If a named import fails, use the default import and destructure.

CommonJS (require)

const babelCli = require("babel-cli");

Module format by version

Derived from the type, main and exports fields of every stable release on npm (52 versions; the newest 52 shown).

VersionsFormatFirst published
6.0.0 – 6.26.0CommonJSOct 29, 2015

Frequently asked

Is babel-cli ESM-only?

babel-cli@6.26.0 is a CommonJS package. babel-cli ships CommonJS only. require("babel-cli") works everywhere. import "babel-cli" also works because Node.js and Bun can import CommonJS from ES modules, but only the default export is guaranteed; named imports depend on Node's static analysis of the module.

Can I import babel-cli with ES module syntax?

Yes. import babelCli from "babel-cli" works in Node.js and Bun because they support importing CommonJS modules. Named imports work only when Node.js can statically detect the exports.

Does babel-cli work in Bun?

Importing babel-cli failed in Bun 1.4 on Sep 9, 2026: error: Use the `babel-core` package not `babel`.

Does babel-cli ship TypeScript types?

No. babel-cli ships no type declarations and there is no @types package for it.

Links

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