Error in nextjs app: Error: Cannot find module 'next/dist/compiled/ws'

Question

When I try to run npm run dev I get this error:

[Error: Cannot find module 'next/dist/compiled/ws' Require stack:

/mnt/c/Users/Marcus Flavio/OneDrive - Microsoft 365/Área de Trabalho/Projects/smartiming-pwa/node_modules/next/dist/server/dev/hot-reloader-webpack.js

• /mnt/c/Users/Marcus Flavio/OneDrive - Microsoft 365/Área de Trabalho/Projects/smartiming-pwa/node_modules/next/dist/server/lib/router-utils/setup-dev-bundler.js
• /mnt/c/Users/Marcus Flavio/OneDrive - Microsoft 365/Área de Trabalho/Projects/smartiming-pwa/node_modules/next/dist/server/lib/router-server.js
• /mnt/c/Users/Marcus Flavio/OneDrive - Microsoft 365/Área de Trabalho/Projects/smartiming-pwa/node_modules/next/dist/server/lib/start-server.js] { code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND', requireStack: [Array] }`

This is my next.config.js file:

const withPWA = require("@ducanh2912/next-pwa").default({
    dest: "public",
    cacheOnFrontEndNav: true,
    aggressiveFrontEndNavCaching: true,
    reloadOnOnline: true,
    swcMinify: true,
    disable: process.env.NODE_ENV === "development",
    workboxOptions: {
        disableDevLogs: true,
    },
    swSrc: "public/serviceWorker.js",
});

/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
const nextConfig = {
    typescript: {
        tsconfigPath: "./tsconfig.json",
    },
    images: {
        remotePatterns: [
            {
                protocol: "https",
                hostname: "**.**.**",
            },
        ],
    },

    webpack(config) {
        config.resolve.alias = {
            ...config.resolve.alias,
            "@": require("path").resolve(__dirname),
        };
        return config;
    },
};

module.exports = withPWA(nextConfig);

I'm running my project within WSL on Windows Below are the versions of node js and Next js:

Node: v22.13.1 NextJs: Next.js v15.1.6

I was trying to run my Next.js project, but I encountered a 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND' error related to 'next/dist/compiled/ws'.

To fix this, I tried several solutions:

Added the following configuration in next.config.js:

experimental: {
  outputFileTracingRoot: join(__dirname, '../../'),
}

Cleared the cache using

 rm -rf .next and npm cache clean --force.

Deleted node_modules and package-lock.json, then reinstalled dependencies with

npm install.

But nothing worked

Answer 1

was experiencing the same issue ("Cannot find module 'next/dist/compiled/ws'").

Updating my Node.js version to v20.19.1 completely solved the problem for me.

If you're encountering this error, definitely check your Node.js version and consider changing it.