RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded in ESM module loader on large single-file bundled ESM output

[crisxuan]

Version

Node version: v22.22.1

Platform

Linux x86_64 (Linux 5.15.0-100-generic)

Subsystem

ESM module loader / node:internal/modules/esm/utils compileSourceTextModule

What steps will reproduce the bug?

1. Install openclaw from npm: npm install -g openclaw
2. Try to run the gateway: openclaw gateway start
3. The process immediately crashes with RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded

Package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/openclaw

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

100% reproducible on every startup with Node.js 22.22.1.

Required conditions:

• Node.js 22.x (tested on 22.22.1)
• Loading a large single-file bundled ESM package that contains many cyclic re-exports (common output from modern bundlers
  like esbuild/rollup)

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

Expected: Node.js should successfully load the module and start the application.

This is the expected behavior because:

• The same code/package works correctly on Node.js 20.x
• Single-file ESM bundling is a common distribution method for CLI tools on npm
• Cyclic dependencies/re-exports should be handled gracefully by the module loader without infinite recursion

What do you see instead?

The ESM module loader goes into infinite recursion during loading and eventually crashes with:

RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded
at compileSourceTextModule (node:internal/modules/esm/utils:346:16)
at ModuleLoader.moduleStrategy (node:internal/modules/esm/translators:107:18)
at #translate (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:546:20)
at afterLoad (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:596:29)
at ModuleLoader.loadAndTranslate (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:601:12)
at #createModuleJob (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:624:36)
at #getJobFromResolveResult (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:343:41)
at ModuleLoader.getModuleJobForImport (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:311:41)
... (repeats thousands of times until stack overflow)

Even with --stack-size=131072 (4x default), it still overflows.

Additional information

• This works fine in Node.js 20.x, broken in Node.js 22.x
  • The bundle is a single large ESM file (~30MB) containing the entire application with all dependencies inlined
  • This packaging method is very common for CLI tools that ship everything in one file
  • Suspected change in ESM loading algorithm in Node.js 22 introduced the infinite recursion on this dependency structure

Environment:

• Node.js: v22.22.1
• OS: Linux 5.15.0-100-generic x86_64 (Ubuntu 22.04)

---

[crisxuan]

Title: ESM loader: infinite recursion stack overflow on malformed cyclic exports instead of clear error

Summary

When a large single-file bundled ESM package has corrupted cyclic re-exports due to installation corruption, Node.js 22+ ESM
loader will go into infinite recursion until stack overflow, instead of throwing a clear error message about cyclic
dependency or reaching max recursion depth.

Steps to reproduce

1. npm install -g openclaw — installation somehow gets corrupted (likely network interrupt during unpacking)，resulting in
   extra cyclic re-exports in the bundled file
2. Try to run openclaw gateway start
3. It crashes with RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded in compileSourceTextModule inside Node.js ESM loader

Expected behavior

• Should detect cyclic dependency or max recursion depth
• Throw a clear error like "Too many recursive dependency resolutions detected" instead of silent stack overflow
• It shouldn't infinite recursion no matter how bad the module is

Actual behavior

• Infinite recursion until stack overflow, no clear error message
• You have to guess what's wrong from the stack overflow

Affected versions

• Node.js 22.x — confirmed
• Probably affects 23.x/24.x/25+ too since the loader code is the same
• Node.js 20.x doesn't have this issue — it seems the different loading order accidentally tolerates this corrupted case

Workaround

• npm install -g openclaw --force reinstall fixes the corrupted package
• After reinstall, even default stack size works fine

Suggestions for improvement

1. Add a maximum recursion depth check in ESM module loading
2. When max depth is reached, throw a clear error instead of continuing to infinite recursion
3. This improves robustness when dealing with corrupted or malformed bundled modules