Cannot find module or its corresponding type declaration when "main" has cjs file extension

[make-github-pseudonymous-again]

Bug Report

When importing a module that sets package.json#main = "dist/index.cjs", tsc outputs Cannot find module ... or its corresponding type declaration. Manually renaming the file to dist/index.js and updating package.json#main = "dist/index.js" fixes it.

In Node, using cjs extensions for CommonJS output is mandatory when using package.json#type = "module". Note that this package has other exports which are not picked up by TypeScript (but could be exploited):

// package.json of the imported module
...
 "sideEffects": false,
 "type": "module",
 "source": "src/index.js",
 "main": "dist/index.cjs",
 "module": "dist/index.module.js",
 "esmodule": "dist/index.modern.js",
 "umd:main": "dist/index.umd.js",
 "unpkg": "dist/index.umd.js",
 "exports": {
 ".": {
 "browser": "./dist/index.module.js",
 "umd": "./dist/index.umd.js",
 "require": "./dist/index.cjs",
 "default": "./dist/index.modern.js"
 }
 },
...

Here is my tsconfig.json (I am only using TypeScript to check types):

// tsconfig.json of the importing module
{
 "$schema": "https://json.schemastore.org/tsconfig",
 "compilerOptions": {
 "noEmit": true,
 "target": "esnext",
 "module": "esnext",
 "lib": ["esnext", "dom"],
 "allowJs": true,
 "checkJs": true,
 "jsx": "preserve",
 "incremental": true,

 "strict": true,
 "noImplicitAny": false,
 "noImplicitThis": false,
 "strictNullChecks": false,

 "noImplicitReturns": true,
 "noFallthroughCasesInSwitch": true,
 "noImplicitOverride": false,
 "noPropertyAccessFromIndexSignature": false,
 "noUncheckedIndexedAccess": true,
 "noUnusedLocals": true,
 "noUnusedParameters": true,

 "allowUnreachableCode": false,

 "moduleResolution": "node",
 "resolveJsonModule": true,
 "types": ["meteor", "mocha"],
 "esModuleInterop": true,
 "preserveSymlinks": true,
 "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true
 },
 "include": [
 "types/**/*",
 "server/**/*",
 "client/**/*",
 "imports/**/*"
 ]
}

Please explain to me what is my mistake. I would be happy to know how to make Node, ESM, and TypeScript work together.

🔎 Search Terms

• Cannot find module or its corresponding type declaration
• main
• cjs
• file extension

🕗 Version & Regression Information

This is the behavior in every version I tried, and I reviewed the FAQ for entries about cjs/CommonJS.

⏯ Playground Link

⚠️ PS: The error spit out by the playground tool might be irrelevant (although identical).

Playground link with relevant code

💻 Code

import {range} from '@iterable-iterator/range';
console.log(range(10**9).has(10**8));

🙁 Actual behavior

❌ Cannot find module '@iterable-iterator/range' or its corresponding type declarations. (2307)

🙂 Expected behavior

It should not report a missing module error.

[weswigham]

This should be fixed as of #45884