[Bug]: The API Server won't start and throws an error

[TSlashDreamy]

Describe the bug

When trying to start the API Server, it throws an error: error: Cannot find module './cjs/index.cjs' from ''

$ bun run tools/src/index.ts dev server
INFO [2026-02-12 20:07:15]: (CLI): Executing command "dev"
INFO [2026-02-12 20:07:15]: (CLI): Starting server service...
$ bun tsx watch --env-file=../env/.env.local ./src/index.ts
error: Cannot find module './cjs/index.cjs' from ''

To Reproduce

Basically following the documentation steps.

1. Install the latest Node.js (LTS) and Bun.
2. Clone the repo.
3. Install packages: cd lifeforge && bun install --linker isolated.
4. Configure env/.env.local.
5. Initialize DB: bun run forge db init.
6. Start the Pocketbase instance: bun run forge dev db.
7. Start the API Server: bun run forge dev server.

Expected behavior

The API Server should start and we should see an output like in docs

Screenshots

Operating System

macOS

Browser

Safari

Browser Version

Version 26.2 (21623.1.14.11.9)

Device (if mobile)

No response

Additional context

After DB initialization, users collection is empty. (I hope it should be like this)

Bun: v1.3.9 (macOS x64).
Node: v24.13.1.
NPM: 11.8.0.
NVM: 0.40.3.
Pocketbase: 0.35.0.

[lukashow]

Hi, unfortunately, I couldn't reproduce your error. Can you help me to run bun --log-level debug forge dev to see if it works?
For the user it is normal to be blank, as you will be guided to set up your first user in the GUI once everything is correctly set up and running.

[TSlashDreamy]

Hi, @lukashow. Sure!

Strange, but it seems that I can't debug with bun. Running bun --log-level debug forge dev returns:

error: Script not found "debug"

[lukashow]

Oops, I'm sorry it's my mistake. It's bun forge --log-level debug dev.

[TSlashDreamy]

No worries. Yup, that worked. Here are the logs:

$ bun run tools/src/index.ts --log-level debug dev
INFO [2026-02-15 12:50:50]: (CLI): Executing command "dev"
INFO [2026-02-15 12:50:50]: (CLI): Starting all services...
DEBUG [2026-02-15 12:50:50]: (CLI): Checking if address localhost:8090 is in use...
DEBUG [2026-02-15 12:50:50]: (CLI): Executing command nc with arguments: -zv localhost 8090
DEBUG [2026-02-15 12:50:50]: (CLI): nc: connectx to localhost port 8090 (tcp) failed: Connection refused
nc: connectx to localhost port 8090 (tcp) failed: Connection refused

DEBUG [2026-02-15 12:50:50]: (CLI): Executing command pgrep -f "lifeforge/server/node_modules/.bin/tsx" with arguments: none
DEBUG [2026-02-15 12:50:51]: (CLI): Executing command nc with arguments: -zv localhost 3636
DEBUG [2026-02-15 12:50:51]: (CLI): nc: connectx to localhost port 3636 (tcp) failed: Connection refused
nc: connectx to localhost port 3636 (tcp) failed: Connection refused

DEBUG [2026-02-15 12:50:51]: (CLI): Executing command pgrep -f "lifeforge/client/node_modules/.bin/vite" with arguments: none
[client] $ vite
[server] $ bun tsx watch --env-file=../env/.env.local ./src/index.ts
[db] 2026/02/15 14:50:51 Server started at http://localhost:8090
[db] ├─ REST API:  http://localhost:8090/api/
[db] └─ Dashboard: http://localhost:8090/_/
[server] error: Cannot find module './cjs/index.cjs' from ''
[server] 
[server] Bun v1.3.9 (macOS x64)
[client] 
[client]   VITE v7.3.1  ready in 2539 ms
[client] 
[client]   ➜  Local:   http://localhost:5173/
[client]   ➜  Network: use --host to expose

[melvinchia3636]

Might be issue caused by dependencies.

[TSlashDreamy]

Might be issue caused by dependencies.

Yeah, thought about that. In that case, what are the latest stable and working dependencies that I can throw into the package.json?

[pavel-collab]

I've got the same issue when trying to build the service from source code on my raspberry pi 4

PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="13"
VERSION="13 (trixie)"
VERSION_CODENAME=trixie
DEBIAN_VERSION_FULL=13.3
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

Linux raspberrypi 6.12.62+rpt-rpi-v8 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 1:6.12.62-1+rpt1 (2025-12-18) aarch64 GNU/Linux

[lukashow]

@TSlashDreamy Apologizes for late reply. I've reproduced the issue, which only occurs when running bun forge dev server. I'll try to find what happened behind.

If bun forge dev is working on your side, you may temporarily use it first. It will start all frontend, backend and database together. From my side there are no issues with this command.

[TSlashDreamy]

@lukashow, no worries. Unfortunately, bun forge dev doesn't work for me.

$ bun run tools/src/index.ts dev
INFO [2026-02-21 14:34:02]: (CLI): Executing command "dev"
INFO [2026-02-21 14:34:02]: (CLI): Starting all services...
[server] $ bun tsx watch --env-file=../env/.env.local ./src/index.ts
[client] $ vite
[db] 2026/02/21 16:34:02 Server started at http://localhost:8090
[db] ├─ REST API:  http://localhost:8090/api/
[db] └─ Dashboard: http://localhost:8090/_/
[server] error: Cannot find module './cjs/index.cjs' from ''
[server] 
[server] Bun v1.3.9 (macOS x64)
[client] 
[client]   VITE v7.3.1  ready in 1266 ms
[client] 
[client]   ➜  Local:   http://localhost:5173/
[client]   ➜  Network: use --host to expose

[TSlashDreamy]

Looks like either the watch mode or the TypeScript execution engine in bun is broken (I'm not sure). Temporary solution is to run it in production mode via start script or replace the dev script in lifeforge/server/package.json with:

"dev": "bun --env-file=../env/.env.local ./src/index.ts"

We can also try and downgrade bun to see if it helps.

Current bun version: 1.3.9 (MacOS)