Rollup Error: "randomUUID" is not exported by "__vite-browser-external"

[ishandutta2007]

Describe the bug

npm run build is failing with Error: "randomUUID" is not exported by "__vite-browser-external"

Here is my vite.config.ts

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'
import { crx } from '@crxjs/vite-plugin'
import tsconfigPaths from 'vite-tsconfig-paths'
import manifest from './manifest.config'
import wasm from 'vite-plugin-wasm';
import inject from '@rollup/plugin-inject';

import rollupNodePolyFill from 'rollup-plugin-node-polyfills'

import builtins from 'rollup-plugin-node-builtins';
const builtinsPlugin = builtins({crypto: true});
builtinsPlugin.name = 'builtins';

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [tsconfigPaths(), react(), crx({ manifest }), wasm(),
  ],
  esbuild: {
  },
  build: {
    rollupOptions: {
      input: ['app.html', 'sidepanel.html'],
      plugins: [inject({ Buffer: ['Buffer', 'Buffer'] }), builtinsPlugin],
    },
  },
  resolve: {
    alias: {
      crypto: "rollup-plugin-node-polyfills/polyfills/crypto-browserify",
      http: 'rollup-plugin-node-polyfills/polyfills/http',
      querystring: 'rollup-plugin-node-polyfills/polyfills/qs',
      stream: 'rollup-plugin-node-polyfills/polyfills/stream',
      url: 'rollup-plugin-node-polyfills/polyfills/url',
      util: 'rollup-plugin-node-polyfills/polyfills/util',
    }
  }
})

• Rollup Plugin Name: "@rollup/plugin-inject"
• Rollup Plugin Version: "^5.0.3",
• Rollup Version:"^3.2.3"
• Operating System (or Browser): MacOS10.13.6
• Node Version:16.20.2
• Link to reproduction : I am facing this while building, not deployed to production yet

Expected Behavior

to build properly

Actual Behavior

"randomUUID" is not exported by "__vite-browser-external", imported by "node_modules/tls-client/dist/esm/sessions.js".
file: /Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/tls-client/dist/esm/sessions.js:5:9
3: import { Response } from './response';
4: import { CookieJar } from 'tough-cookie';
5: import { randomUUID } from 'crypto';
            ^
6: import { __version__, } from './__version__';
7: class Session {
error during build:
RollupError: "randomUUID" is not exported by "__vite-browser-external", imported by "node_modules/tls-client/dist/esm/sessions.js".
    at error (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:2287:30)
    at Module.error (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:13716:16)
    at Module.traceVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:14146:29)
    at ModuleScope.findVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:12589:39)
    at ChildScope.findVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:7124:38)
    at ClassBodyScope.findVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:7124:38)
    at ChildScope.findVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:7124:38)
    at FunctionScope.findVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:7124:38)
    at ChildScope.findVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:7124:38)
    at Identifier.bind (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:8309:40)

Additional Information

Reproduction

tsc && vite build

Steps to reproduce

npm install
npm run build

System Info

- Operating System (or Browser): MacOS10.13.6
- Node Version:16.20.2
- npm Version:8.19.4

Used Package Manager

npm

Logs

"randomUUID" is not exported by "__vite-browser-external", imported by "node_modules/tls-client/dist/esm/sessions.js".
file: /Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/tls-client/dist/esm/sessions.js:5:9
3: import { Response } from './response';
4: import { CookieJar } from 'tough-cookie';
5: import { randomUUID } from 'crypto';
^
6: import { version, } from './version';
7: class Session {
error during build:
RollupError: "randomUUID" is not exported by "__vite-browser-external", imported by "node_modules/tls-client/dist/esm/sessions.js".
at error (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:2287:30)
at Module.error (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:13716:16)
at Module.traceVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:14146:29)
at ModuleScope.findVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:12589:39)
at ChildScope.findVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:7124:38)
at ClassBodyScope.findVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:7124:38)
at ChildScope.findVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:7124:38)
at FunctionScope.findVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:7124:38)
at ChildScope.findVariable (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:7124:38)
at Identifier.bind (file:///Users/ishandutta2007/Documents/Projects/X/node_modules/vite/node_modules/rollup/dist/es/shared/node-entry.js:8309:40)

Validations

• Follow our Code of Conduct
• Read the Contributing Guidelines.
• Read the docs.
• Check that there isn't already an issue that reports the same bug to avoid creating a duplicate.
• Make sure this is a Vite issue and not a framework-specific issue. For example, if it's a Vue SFC related bug, it should likely be reported to vuejs/core instead.
• Check that this is a concrete bug. For Q&A open a GitHub Discussion or join our Discord Chat Server.
• The provided reproduction is a minimal reproducible example of the bug.

[nitzcard]

I'm also having prob with this

[ebisbe]

me too. Did you find a solution?

[potatohoney-p]

The importer in the error is the important clue: tls-client/dist/esm/sessions.js is pulling Node's crypto into a browser build. This is not an injection mapping for Buffer.

There is a larger compatibility problem than randomUUID. I inspected tls-client@0.0.5, whose sessions.js matches the shown import: it imports ./cffi, and that module imports ffi-napi and calls ffi.Library(...) to load a platform-specific .dll, .dylib, or .so. A browser extension cannot load that Node native addon. Adding a crypto polyfill, marking the package external, or making the first missing export disappear does not provide that native runtime.

I checked a minimal Vite 4.4.9 build on Linux/Node 24.22.1 with that package:

• The ordinary browser build first failed on another Node import, http.STATUS_CODES.
• With an intentionally minimal HTTP shim only to get past that first diagnostic, it failed with the exact "randomUUID" is not exported by "__vite-browser-external" error at tls-client/dist/esm/sessions.js:5.

That shim was a diagnostic experiment, not a solution. The original installed tls-client version and complete CRX build are not provided, so this is not a reproduction of every part of your extension.

For ordinary browser HTTP requests, remove tls-client from the client import graph and use the browser's fetch API (with the appropriate extension host permissions/CORS handling):

async function getData(url) {
  const response = await fetch(url);
  if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${response.status}`);
  return response.json();
}

This small replacement built without the native dependencies; mocked-response checks verified successful JSON and rejection of a non-OK response. I have not tested your target endpoint or extension permissions. Browser fetch also does not reproduce the package's custom TLS-client behavior. If that functionality is essential, it must run in a suitable Node/native service, not inside the browser bundle.

Vite's documentation explains the browser-external diagnostic and why Node modules are not automatically polyfilled.