How can I deploy node modules in a Meteor app on meteor.com?

Question

I have an application that uses the node twit module that is available via

npm install twit

I deployed the node module locally from .meteor/local/build/server/

So, it is visible at .meteor/local/build/server/node_modules/twit

I tried installing it at project root but the project did not find the module. Which led me to the above solution which works.

My application now runs fine locally. I am able to run and do everything and can interact with Twitter from my Meteor server side or client side depending on what I want to do. No crashes.

When I deploy to meteor.com through the command

meteor deploy [appname] --password

The application deploys successfully.

When I attempt to access the (app at anonistream.meteor.com)[anonistream.meteor.com] from a browser it fails and the logs contain this error.

[Mon May 07 2012 01:59:53 GMT+0000 (UTC)] WARNING
node.js:201
   throw e; // process.nextTick error, or 'error' event on first tick
         ^
Error: Cannot find module 'twit'
at Function._resolveFilename (module.js:332:11)
at Function._load (module.js:279:25)
at Module.require (module.js:354:17)
at require (module.js:370:17)
at app/server/server.js:2:12
at /meteor/containers/84162a7c-24e8-bf26-6fd8-e4ec13b2a935/bundle/server/server.js:111:21
at Array.forEach (native)
at Function.<anonymous>
 (/meteor/containers/84162a7c-24e8-bf26-6fd8-     e4ec13b2a935/bundle/server/underscore.js:76:11)
at /meteor/containers/84162a7c-24e8-bf26-6fd8-e4ec13b2a935/bundle/server/server.js:97:7
[Mon May 07 2012 01:59:53 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO STATUS running -> waiting
[Mon May 07 2012 01:59:53 GMT+0000 (UTC)] ERROR Application crashed with code: 1
[Mon May 07 2012 02:29:55 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO HIT / 24.94.158.145
[Mon May 07 2012 02:29:59 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO HIT /favicon.ico 24.94.158.145
[Mon May 07 2012 02:30:46 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO HIT / 24.94.158.145
[Mon May 07 2012 02:30:50 GMT+0000 (UTC)] INFO HIT /favicon.ico 24.94.158.145

Does anyone have any suggestions on how this might be accomplished?

Answer 1

As of Meteor 6.0, now we need to use Npm.require() instead. Additionally, we need to declare the module as global variables, since Meteor now has file-level scope.

  var path = Npm.require('path');
  var fs = Npm.require('fs');
  var base = path.resolve('.');
  var isBundle = fs.existsSync(base + '/bundle');
  var modulePath = base + (isBundle ? '/bundle/static' : '/public') + '/node_modules';
  MODULE_NAME = Npm.require(modulePath + '/MODULE_NAME'); // NOTE, this is going to be a global variable