esm: allow --import to define main entry

Author: GeoffreyBooth

lib/internal/modules/run_main.js

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 'use strict';
 
 const {
+  ArrayPrototypeAt,
   StringPrototypeEndsWith,
 } = primordials;
 
@@ -53,15 +54,15 @@ function shouldUseESMLoader(mainPath) {
 
 /**
  * Run the main entry point through the ESM Loader.
- * @param {string} mainPath Absolute path to the main entry point
+ * @param {string} mainEntry - Absolute path to the main entry point, or a specifier to be resolved by the ESM Loader
  */
-function runMainESM(mainPath) {
+function runMainESM(mainEntry) {
   const { loadESM } = require('internal/process/esm_loader');
   const { pathToFileURL } = require('internal/url');
 
   handleMainPromise(loadESM((esmLoader) => {
-    const main = path.isAbsolute(mainPath) ?
-      pathToFileURL(mainPath).href : mainPath;
+    const main = path.isAbsolute(mainEntry) ?
+      pathToFileURL(mainEntry).href : mainEntry;
     return esmLoader.import(main, undefined, { __proto__: null });
   }));
 }
@@ -89,6 +90,18 @@ async function handleMainPromise(promise) {
  * @param {string} main CLI main entry point string
  */
 function executeUserEntryPoint(main = process.argv[1]) {
+  if (!main) {
+    const importFlagValues = getOptionValue('--import');
+    if (importFlagValues.length > 0) {
+      // No main entry point was specified, but --import was used, so we'll use the last --import value as the entry.
+      // Because --import takes specifiers that get resolved by the ESM resolution algorithm, we pass it through to be
+      // resolved later.
+      const entry = ArrayPrototypeAt(importFlagValues, -1);
+      runMainESM(entry);
+      return;
+    }
+  }
+
   const resolvedMain = resolveMainPath(main);
   const useESMLoader = shouldUseESMLoader(resolvedMain);
   if (useESMLoader) {

src/node.cc

@@ -360,7 +360,9 @@ MaybeLocal<Value> StartExecution(Environment* env, StartExecutionCallback cb) {
     return StartExecution(env, "internal/main/watch_mode");
   }
 
-  if (!first_argv.empty() && first_argv != "-") {
+  if ((!first_argv.empty() && first_argv != "-") ||
+      (first_argv.empty() && !env->options()->force_repl &&
+      !env->options()->preload_esm_modules.empty())) {
     return StartExecution(env, "internal/main/run_main_module");
   }
 

test/es-module/test-esm-import-flag.mjs

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-import { spawnPromisified } from '../common/index.mjs';
+import { mustCall, spawnPromisified } from '../common/index.mjs';
 import fixtures from '../common/fixtures.js';
 import assert from 'node:assert';
+import { spawn } from 'node:child_process';
 import { execPath } from 'node:process';
 import { describe, it } from 'node:test';
 
@@ -42,6 +43,48 @@ describe('import modules using --import', { concurrency: true }, () => {
     assert.strictEqual(signal, null);
   });
 
+  it('should treat the last import as the main entry point when no argument is passed', async () => {
+    const { code, signal, stderr, stdout } = await spawnPromisified(
+      execPath,
+      [
+        '--import', mjsImport,
+      ]
+    );
+
+    assert.strictEqual(stderr, '');
+    assert.match(stdout, /^\.mjs file\r?\n$/);
+    assert.strictEqual(code, 0);
+    assert.strictEqual(signal, null);
+  });
+
+  it('should still launch the REPL when --interactive is passed', async () => {
+    const child = spawn(execPath, [
+      '--import', mjsImport,
+      '--interactive',
+    ]);
+
+    child.on('exit', mustCall((code, signal) => {
+      assert.strictEqual(code, 0);
+      assert.strictEqual(signal, null);
+    }));
+
+    child.stdin.write('.exit\n');
+  });
+
+  it('should still launch the REPL when -i is passed', async () => {
+    const child = spawn(execPath, [
+      '--import', mjsImport,
+      '-i',
+    ]);
+
+    child.on('exit', mustCall((code, signal) => {
+      assert.strictEqual(code, 0);
+      assert.strictEqual(signal, null);
+    }));
+
+    child.stdin.write('.exit\n');
+  });
+
   it('should import when main entrypoint is a cjs file', async () => {
     const { code, signal, stderr, stdout } = await spawnPromisified(
       execPath,