Metro Bundler Fails to Resolve Subpath Exports from platejs and @platejs/core in React Native/Expo

[guillempuche]

Description

Metro bundler (used by Expo/React Native) fails to resolve subpath exports from platejs and @platejs/core packages. When importing from @platejs/basic-nodes, platejs/react or @platejs/core/react, Metro throws "Unable to resolve" errors. This prevents using Plate in React Native/Expo applications.

Reproduction URL

https://github.com/guillempuche/workspace

Reproduction steps

1. Clone the repository: `git clone https://github.com/guillempuche/workspace`
2. Install dependencies: `yarn install`
3. Run the Expo web app: `yarn workspace @workspace/apps-expo web`
4. See error: `Unable to resolve "platejs/react" from "apps/expo/src/app/editor.tsx"`

Plate version

49.0.19

Slate React version

0.117.1

Screenshots

Logs

Web Bundling failed 6188ms apps/expo/index.ts (1225 modules)
Unable to resolve "platejs/react" from "apps/expo/src/app/editor.tsx"


When trying to import from `@platejs/core/react` after installing it directly:

Web Bundling failed 6328ms apps/expo/index.ts (1225 modules)
Unable to resolve "@platejs/core/react" from "apps/expo/src/app/editor.tsx"

Browsers

Firefox

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi @guillempuche! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the plate team.

Metro (used by Expo/React Native) doesn't support the package.json "exports" field or subpath exports, which is why imports like platejs/react or @platejs/core/react fail with "Unable to resolve" errors. Plate defines these subpath exports using the "exports" field for modern bundlers, but Metro ignores this and looks for physical files or folders that don't exist, causing the error you see cite.

There isn't official support or a documented workaround for using Plate with Metro/Expo. To work around this, you could try importing directly from the built file paths (like platejs/dist/react/index.js), but this is brittle and not guaranteed to work. Other options are forking the package to flatten the exports or using a custom Metro resolver, but both require extra setup.

Right now, Metro's lack of support for subpath exports is a fundamental blocker for using Plate in React Native/Expo projects.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[dosubot[bot]]

Metro bundler (used by Expo/React Native) doesn't fully support the exports field and subpath exports in package.json, which is why imports like platejs/react or @platejs/core/react fail to resolve. Plate packages define their subpath exports using this field, which works in Node.js and modern web bundlers, but not in Metro. This is a common pain point for ESM packages in React Native/Expo and not unique to Plate see example.

There’s no official workaround in Plate docs or code for Metro. Some general community workarounds for similar issues include: using patch-package to rewrite imports, copying files manually, or hacking Metro’s resolver, but these are not straightforward and may break with updates. TypeScript config tweaks (like moduleResolution: "bundler") help with type errors but do not fix Metro’s runtime resolution see docs.

Right now, Plate does not support Metro/Expo out of the box due to this limitation. If you need Plate in React Native/Expo, you’d need to experiment with custom Metro config or manual file copying, but there’s no documented, stable solution yet.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[guillempuche]

Adding unstable_enablePackageExports: true in metro.config.js (see Metro Bundler docs) successfully resolves the subpath export issue, allowing the platejs and @platejs/core libraries to load correctly in React Native/Expo applications. Recommendation from @TylorS 🙏.

Previously I had unstable_enablePackageExports: false because the Tamagui UI library caused problems in the past (tamagui/tamagui#3396 (comment)). I'll test it more to confirm that Tamagui and Plate works together.