Diagnose Node.js CommonJS vs ESM Errors with Claude: A Copy-Paste Prompt Kit (ERR_REQUIRE_ESM, ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND)

By the end of this article you'll have a small Node.js script that pipes a module-resolution error (ERR_REQUIRE_ESM, ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND, Cannot use import statement outside a module) plus the surrounding config into Claude and gets back a specific fix — not a Stack Overflow lecture. You'll also have four hardened prompts you can paste straight into claude.ai, and a script that auto-detects whether your project is CJS or ESM before you even ask. Everything below runs on Node 18+. Why...