Field ‘Browser’ doesn’t Contain a Valid Alias Configuration? Easily Fix it Here

A lot of webpack users have complained about the “Field ‘Browser’ doesn’t Contain a Valid Alias Configuration” error over the years and the occurrence of this error still hasn’t been explained properly. This is because the error is thrown for a variety of different reasons and users haven’t been able to pinpoint a root cause for it.

However, in this article, we have compiled all the different methods that you can go through to ensure that you have checked off all the possible causes. Make sure to try out each method and see if it is relevant in your case and that it fixes the issue at hand.

Fixing the Field ‘Browser’ doesn’t Contain a Valid Alias Configuration Error:

Solution 1: Resolve the Import

Sometimes, the error message is simply the result of Webpack not properly resolving an import. Therefore, we suggest that you check out the import command that it is being given and ensure that you are using the correct format. For example,  a user on a forum was able to resolve this issue simply by changing the command format as we have done below.

import documentname from 'pieces/documentname';

TO

import documentname from './pieces/documentname';

What has been done in the above command is that the “./” has been added before the address to ensure that it is imported properly.

Solution 2: Ensuring Proper Extensions are installed

It is possible that you are using a library that is using certain extensions that webpack isn’t properly equipped to handle. Therefore, we suggest that you try to install the proper extensions in order to be able to resolve it properly. For that, you can simply use the command below to add the proper missing extensions, make sure to change the “ext” with the proper extension.

resolve: 
{ 
   extensions: ['.ext', '.ext'], 
}

Solution 3: Ensuring the Correct Path is used

Sometimes, the entry value might not be properly pathed in relation to your relative context. Therefore, we suggest that you double-check this and go back to our first solution as well to ensure that the proper path is being used.

Solution 4: Add the Browser Field

For some users, simply adding the browser field ensures that the “Field ‘Browser’ doesn’t Contain a Valid Alias Configuration” error doesn’t occur. Therefore, we suggest that you add the following lines:

"browser": {
"[module-name]": false 
},

Solution 5: Webpack Config Missing

In certain cases, the Webpack config file might be missing and it might be causing the error in question. Therefore, we suggest that you make sure that the “webpack.config.js” is present.

Solution 6: Add Aliases to Webpack Config

Make sure that you add the aliases to the webpack config as well if you have already added them to the “tsconfig.json”. This has been the fix for the “Field ‘Browser’ doesn’t Contain a Valid Alias Configuration” error for a lot of users.

Solution 7: Ensure Syntax is Correct

You need to constantly check if there are any syntax errors in your code because when naming an alias or for other portions of your code, webpack is case-sensitive. This means that if you typed something in lower-case, that you meant to type in upper-case letters or vice versa it can trigger errors. Therefore, we suggest that you go through the code a couple of times to ensure this.

Other Things to Ensure:

There are some other things that you can do to ensure that the error doesn’t occur on your computer, just go through these points to ensure that you have all the boxes checked.

1. Make sure that you add the library itself before adding the typescript binding for the library itself.
2. For some users, simply changing the entry to the following fixes the issue.

   entry: path.resolve(__dirname, './src/js/index.js'),

3. If you are building an ionic app and are also trying to upload it, ensure that you add at least one platform to the app.

Make sure to contact us for further troubleshooting of this issue.