How to solve Error: Cannot find module in Custom DockerFile based GitHub Actions

Question

I have been trying to setup a GitHub Action that runs a single node script (called index.js). When GitHub Actions then runs the container after building it, it automatically sets the working directory to /github/workspace, which is why I have replicated this in my Dockerfile ( WORKDIR /github/workspace/ ).

node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1147
  throw err;
  ^

Error: Cannot find module '/github/workspace/index.js'
    at Module._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1144:15)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:9[8](https://github.com/Sonichigo/GitHub-Action-s/actions/runs/7500548232/job/20419453468#step:3:9)5:27)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:135:12)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:28:4[9](https://github.com/Sonichigo/GitHub-Action-s/actions/runs/7500548232/job/20419453468#step:3:10) {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: []
}

Node.js v20.[11](https://github.com/Sonichigo/GitHub-Action-s/actions/runs/7500548232/job/20419453468#step:3:12).0

This suggests that the file does not exist. The debug output I added when building the container shows me otherwise though (root directory shortened for legibility)

I tried copying the index.js file to /github/workspace/index.js in the container, it will be in the correct location when the GitHub Action runs, but it still doesn't work! Instead I get different error! This is my docker file:-

FROM node:lts

COPY package*.json ./

RUN npm install

COPY index.js /github/workspace/index.js
RUN ["chmod", "+x", "/github/workspace/index.js"]

RUN ls
ENTRYPOINT ["node", "/github/workspace/index.js"]

This fix throws Error: Resource not accessible by integration

Answer 1

The above error message was due to the contents for Dockerfile as well as the permission scope of GitHub actions.

select settings -> Actions -> Workflow permissions -> Read and write permissions .

updated dockerfile:-

FROM node:22-alpine

WORKDIR /app

COPY package*.json /app/

RUN cd /app/ && npm install -y

COPY . /app/

RUN ls

RUN chmod +x /app/entrypoint.sh

ENTRYPOINT ["/app/entrypoint.sh", "/app/index.js"]

based on above i updated the entrypoint.sh as well:-

#!/bin/sh -l

echo "Running action"

## verfiying the path
echo "$PWD" 

## cd is necessary to move to the workdir otherwise we will get error module not found
cd /app && node index.js