aws-lambda Cannot find module

Question

I keep getting this error in the aws-lambda console when uploading code from a zip file. I have tried uploading other zip files and they work correctly. The .js file is named "CreateThumbnail.js" in the zip file. I believe the handler is also named properly "CreateThumbnail.handler". the node_modules subdirectory is also setup. Anyone have any idea?

{
  "errorMessage": "Cannot find module 'CreateThumbnail'",
  "errorType": "Error",
  "stackTrace": [
  "Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:338:15)",
  "Function.Module._load (module.js:280:25)",
  "Module.require (module.js:364:17)",
  "require (module.js:380:17)"
  ]
}

Have you set "CreateThumbnail" as the Handler name in the "Change function configuration and role" section? Can you show the header of your function? — John Rotenstein
– John Rotenstein, Commented Jun 11, 2015 at 23:58
Did you make sure to zip the contents of the file, not the file itself? — michaelAdam
– michaelAdam, Commented Jul 22, 2015 at 17:38

Aaron · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-12 16:42:44Z

25

The way I was able to get this to work was:

Name the file exports.js
Name the handler, within the file, exports.handler
Set the handler in the lambda config to exports.handler
Zip up only the contents of the folder, not the folder itself (as mentioned above) and rename the zip file exports.zip

answered Sep 12, 2015 at 16:42

Aaron

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1 Comment

rodrigo-silveira Over a year ago

The actual name of the file is not really important. The key is to fully qualify the file and the path leading to it. My zip file has a directory named scripts, and inside it there are several files with exports.handler inside them. For Handler inside Lamdba's console, I specify, scripts/transforms.handler.

Brij Raj Singh - MSFT · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-11 03:52:26Z

15

Ok, I did this myself, just make sure that you make the zip such that the .js file doesn't end up inside a folder, because AWS would unzip the file you upload and tries to find a .js file by the name of handler you gave, and if its inside a folder it won't help you.

answered Aug 11, 2015 at 3:52

Brij Raj Singh - MSFT

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2 Comments

Art Over a year ago

Champion. So easy to trip over this if using OS X "Compress" that puts everything in a folder (as it should).

Long M K Nguyễn Over a year ago

This saved me, as i tried to export the current code and it put everything into a folder when exporting so i thought i needed a folder when uploading as well

Roman Starkov · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-29 17:47:47Z

10

One possible problem is if you upload the lambda as a zip file created via PowerShell Compress-Archive. Compress-Archive has a bug which causes AWS to extract the files into a flat tree (no subdirectories), with backslashes in filenames:

answered Jan 29, 2019 at 17:47

Roman Starkov

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1 Comment

Will Over a year ago

One of the comments on that bug report has instructions for using the command line version 7zip instead of Compress-Archive. This worked for me

Putnik · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-15 08:23:51Z

6

This exact error can show up if your zipped file(s) do not have world-wide read permission. (chmod -R ugo+r).

Check the file permissions before they are zipped. This is not emphasized enough unfortunately by AWS and it caused a lot of headaches for many.

edited Apr 15, 2021 at 8:23

Putnik

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answered Sep 14, 2016 at 8:20

Catalin Ciurea

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2 Comments

Ocelot20 Over a year ago

I was using gulp to build and produce my zip file using the gulp-zip package, which produced this form of the issue. Only seemed to happen when it tried to compress it (the default), so using this option made it work for me: .pipe(zip('myfile.zip', { compress: false })). Thanks, I was pulling my hair out on this one for a while.

Ocelot20 Over a year ago

Scratch that..compress:false wasn't working, but gulp-zip was still the culprit. Manually zipping the same files worked.

valdeci · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-16 14:44:31Z

5

If you are using AWS Lambda Layers you need to validate if your directory structure is on the needed structure for a layer:

For example for the moment.js node.js module you need the following structure:

aws-lambda-layer.zip
│ nodejs
│ nodejs/node_modules
└ nodejs/node_modules/moment

So to create a layer zip file with the correct structure we can use the following command on the root of our project:

mkdir -p nodejs && cp -r node_modules nodejs/ && zip -r aws-lambda-layer.zip nodejs

answered Apr 16, 2019 at 14:44

valdeci

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Comments

Carl Manaster · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-27 19:03:08Z

4

Some library files might not have global Read so lambda will not be able to read to content and build the content.

Make sure all files in node_modules are readable before packaging:

chmod -R +r node_modules

Then zip and upload.

edited Feb 27, 2019 at 19:03

Carl Manaster

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answered May 1, 2018 at 16:05

LeOn - Han Li

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Comments

flame3 · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-11 08:01:53Z

This is the instruction from https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/nodejs-package.html that I have followed and it works.

To update a Node.js function with dependencies

Open a command line terminal or shell. Ensure that the Node.js version in your local environment matches the Node.js version of your function.

Create a folder for the deployment package. The following steps assume that the folder is named my-function.

Install libraries in the node_modules directory using the npm install command.

npm install the_package_that_is_missing

Create a .zip file that contains the contents of your project folder. Use the r (recursive) option to ensure that zip compresses the subfolders.

zip -r function.zip .

Upload the package using the update-function-code command.

aws lambda update-function-code --function-name my-function --zip-file fileb://function.zip

Now your function is ready to run!

DonPedro · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-18 04:03:48Z

1

I had this problem on a custom module I had built that was in the node_modules dir. Everything ran fine in testing on my Win10 machine, but when uploaded I kept getting that same "Cannot find module 'modulename'" error.

It turns out that I had a mismatch; here's the package.json line from the module that couldn't be found:

"main": "./build/modulename.js",

and here's the actual filename:

Modulename.js

Case-sensitive; Windows isn't, linux (and thus AWS) is.

answered Sep 18, 2016 at 4:03

DonPedro

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Comments

Fábio Santos · Accepted Answer · 2018-09-11 13:57:55Z

1

This is unrelated but google brought me here, so:

AWS will give you an error:

Unable to import module '<myfile>': Error

What was really happening for me, was that was requiring an unexisting JS file. The error is a bit misleading.

answered Sep 11, 2018 at 13:57

Fábio Santos

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Comments

Kaan · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-07 19:03:05Z

I ran into this same scenario, solved it by using these specific steps to create a Layer, then hook that up to the Lambda function.

make a new empty directory:
```
mkdir newdir && cd newdir
```
install whatever npm things:
```
npm install --save xyz
```
make a directory skeleton that matches the expected Lambda structure for Node14 (there's a different structure for Node12, or various other languages; see https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/configuration-layers.html?icmpid=docs_lambda_help):
```
mkdir -p nodejs/node14
```
copy the "node_modules" directory into that newly made directory skeleton:
```
cp -R node_modules nodejs/node14
```
zip the whole thing up (name it whatever you want):
```
zip -r custom-drivers-node14.zip nodejs
```
from there, go to AWS console, Lambda, then "Layers" and create a new layer. In the dialog, upload your .zip file ("custom-drivers-node14.zip").
finally, edit your Lambda function in AWS console, and add a new Layer – the interface might change, but as of now, this is under the main screen for a single function, then scroll way down to the bottom. Follow the "Add a layer" flow, choose the Layer you made, and then try your code.

One final note, this code structure worked:

const xyz = require('xyz');
exports.handler = async (event) => {
   xyz.doSomething();
}

Esdras Mayrink · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-21 19:38:14Z

0

AWS Lambda uses the name of the file and the name of the handler function, so if you defined your handler like this: exports.myHandler = function(event, context) in a file named index.js, your handler is index.myHandler.

answered Apr 21, 2016 at 19:38

Esdras Mayrink

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1 Comment

Waleed Ahmad Over a year ago

if I need to use typescript, what else changes I need to do to use index.ts instead of index.js

CarlPWilliams · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-31 13:17:04Z

0

This turned out to be a simple one for me.

I was getting, cannot create index. in my case, my main lambda file with the exports.handler in had to be called index.js

Try calling your main file CreateThumbnail.js

answered Aug 31, 2016 at 13:17

CarlPWilliams

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Comments

NightOwl888 · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-27 10:16:56Z

The tutorial tells you to include the following items in your zip file:

CreateThumbnail.js
/node_modules/gm
/node_modules/async

What it fails to consider is that there are dependencies of the two packages (gm, async) that also need to be part of the package.

So here's what you have to do:

Change directory to node_modules folder in your project folder, and run the command 'npm install gm async'. This will install gm, async and all their dependencies in this folder.
Now package the 'CreateThumbnail.js' file and the complete 'node_modules' folder into a zip file and upload it. It should work now.

So your complete package should look something like this:

CreateThumbnail.js
/node_modules/.bin
/node_modules/array-parallel
/node_modules/array-series
/node_modules/async
/node_modules/cross-spawn
/node_modules/debug
/node_modules/gm
/node_modules/isexe
/node_modules/lodash
/node_modules/lru-cache
/node_modules/ms
/node_modules/pseudomap
/node_modules/which
/node_modules/yallist

Barbaros Alp · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-04 11:34:22Z

-1

File Name:
app.js
Lambda Function in "app.js":
exports.handler = function(event, context)...
Lambda Handler on Amazon Console:
app.handler ({app}.js + exports.{handler} = app.handler)

When you unzip the folder, you should see:
app.js
node_modules

edited Nov 4, 2016 at 11:34

answered Nov 4, 2016 at 11:11

Barbaros Alp

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