Node 20.6+ `--env-file` flag in `NODE_OPTIONS` is not allowed

[Afonso Jorge Ramos]

I'm not entirely sure why this happens since cypress-io/github-action@v6 is using Node 20, but I am getting this error.

Any idea why? I wanted to get rid of dotenv all together, so I was trying to set --env-file in my .npmrc. This obviously works across the board as of 20.6, with this action being the except 😕

Available on:
  http://localhost:8000
Hit CTRL-C to stop the server

2023-12-12T14:43 "GET /" "got (https://github.com/sindresorhus/got)"
(node:1431) [DEP0066] DeprecationWarning: OutgoingMessage.prototype._headers is deprecated
(Use `node --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)
Cypress test command: npx percy exec -- pnpm cypress run --record --group E2E:Chrome --ci-build-id ******** --browser chrome
/__w/_tool/node/20.10.0/x64/bin/npx percy exec -- pnpm cypress run --record --group E2E:Chrome --ci-build-id ******** --browser chrome
node: --env-file= is not allowed in NODE_OPTIONS
Error: The process '/__w/_tool/node/20.10.0/x64/bin/npx' failed with exit code 9

[Mike McCready]

@afonsojramos

I assume that you are trying to set environment variables. If so, can you use the env keyword in your workflow?
(See README > Env.)

For example, the following would show trace information for your deprecation warning:

env:
  NODE_OPTIONS: '--trace-deprecation'

If that doesn't solve your issue, please post your workflow here.

[Afonso Jorge Ramos]

@MikeMcC399 the issue is that it is already being picked up by the .npmrc:

node-options=--env-file=.env

So your suggestion will only try to set the variable somewhere else, but the error will remain. The workflow details won't matter here.

[Mike McCready]

@afonsojramos

According to your error message and the documentation https://nodejs.org/docs/latest-v20.x/api/cli.html#node_optionsoptions, --env-file is not a valid option for NODE_OPTIONS.

What are your expectations from cypress-io/github-action?

[Mike McCready]

@afonsojramos

If .npmrc contains the line

node-options=--env-file=.env

then executing a command such as

npx cypress version

results in the error message

node.exe: --env-file= is not allowed in NODE_OPTIONS

so this confirms that it is not a legal configuration.

Also the documentation for .npmrc > node-options states

This does not impact how npm itself is executed but it does impact how lifecycle scripts are called.

At this time I do not see any bug in cypress-io/github-action so I would be inclined to close the issue. Please let us know if you have a different opinion.

[Afonso Jorge Ramos]

Sorry @MikeMcC399, it seems you are indeed correct. I'll close the issue, hopefully the Node.JS team can support this use case in the future.