node-env for @nx/nest app fails to build

[nhhockeyplayer]

Current Behavior

SUBJECT: node-env search algorithm gets lost during build dev/prod

Hi, I have a repo thats traveled migration since nx@10. I use latest 20.3.3 to create a new workspace and then an @nx/nest app (nestjs api app). That nestjs app builds fine but its setup strange using run-commands and a new introduced args node-env. I took that project.json and used it as-is for my repo nestjs app previously generated by @nx/nest

generated project refers to node-env for args in generated project.json code
"args": ["node-env=production"]
no docs exist on this config or what dependent logic exists within NX to do its function
it is being handed off during task runs but that logi8c does not exist for my migrated 20.3.3 repo ???

algorithm falls searching in my repo at 20.3.3

figuring out why it works as-is with 20.3.3 has been tedious

I migrated my repo to 20.3.3 to no avail sifting thru all json config files

and its got to be some needle in the haystack config somewhere

ERROR in main
Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'node-env=production' in '/Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh'
resolve 'node-env=production' in '/Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh'
  Parsed request is a module
  using description file: /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/package.json (relative path: .)
    resolve as module
      looking for modules in /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules
        single file module
          using description file: /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/package.json (relative path: ./node_modules/node-env=production)
            no extension
              /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=production doesn't exist
            .js
              /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=production.js doesn't exist
            .json
              /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=production.json doesn't exist
            .wasm
              /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=production.wasm doesn't exist
        /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=production doesn't exist
      /Users/meanstack02/node_modules doesn't exist or is not a directory
      /Users/node_modules doesn't exist or is not a directory
      /node_modules doesn't exist or is not a directory

api build blocked

Expected Behavior

build should be graceful

dropping .env and local.env config files within the scaffold fails to remedy

GitHub Repo

https://github.com/nhhockeyplayer

Steps to Reproduce

1. create nx workspace preferably angular integrated for multiple apps frontend and backend
2. create a demo app for angular (optional)
3. create an api app using @nx/nest using nx-console or terminal command line as follows:

/Users/meanstack02/new/2025/january/node_modules/.bin/nx g @nx/nest:application --directory=api --name=api --no-interactive --dry-run

this generated code appears inside the generated code of @nx/nest generator

here is the project.json from new workspace 20.3.3 @nx/nest generator

{
  "name": "api",
  "$schema": "../../node_modules/nx/schemas/project-schema.json",
  "sourceRoot": "apps/api/src",
  "projectType": "application",
  "targets": {
    "build": {
      "executor": "nx:run-commands",
      "options": {
        "command": "webpack-cli build",
        "args": ["node-env=production"]
      },
      "configurations": {
        "development": {
          "args": ["node-env=development"]
        }
      }
    },
    "serve": {
      "executor": "@nx/js:node",
      "defaultConfiguration": "development",
      "dependsOn": ["build"],
      "options": {
        "buildTarget": "api:build",
        "runBuildTargetDependencies": false
      },
      "configurations": {
        "development": {
          "buildTarget": "api:build:development"
        },
        "production": {
          "buildTarget": "api:build:production"
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "tags": []
}

Nx Report

nx report                                     

 NX   Report complete - copy this into the issue template

Node           : 22.9.0
OS             : darwin-x64
Native Target  : x86_64-macos
yarn           : 1.22.22

nx (global)            : 20.3.1
nx                     : 20.3.2
@nx/js                 : 20.3.2
@nx/jest               : 20.3.2
@nx/eslint             : 20.3.2
@nx/workspace          : 20.3.2
@nx/angular            : 20.3.2
@nx/cypress            : 20.3.2
@nx/devkit             : 20.3.2
@nx/esbuild            : 20.3.2
@nx/eslint-plugin      : 20.3.2
@nx/express            : 20.3.2
@nx/module-federation  : 20.3.2
@nx/nest               : 20.3.2
@nx/node               : 20.3.2
@nx/playwright         : 20.3.2
@nx/vite               : 20.3.2
@nx/web                : 20.3.2
@nx/webpack            : 20.3.2
nx-cloud               : 19.1.0
typescript             : 5.6.3
---------------------------------------
Registered Plugins:
@nx/webpack/plugin
@nx/cypress/plugin
@nx/playwright/plugin
@nx/eslint/plugin
@nx/jest/plugin
---------------------------------------
Community plugins:
@compodoc/compodoc               : 1.1.26
@fortawesome/angular-fontawesome : 1.0.0
@ionic/angular                   : 6.7.5
@jsverse/transloco               : 7.5.1
@ngrx/component                  : 19.0.0
@ngrx/component-store            : 19.0.0
@ngrx/effects                    : 19.0.0
@ngrx/entity                     : 19.0.0
@ngrx/operators                  : 19.0.0
@ngrx/router-store               : 19.0.0
@ngrx/schematics                 : 19.0.0
@ngrx/store                      : 19.0.0
@ngrx/store-devtools             : 19.0.0
@nxext/capacitor                 : 20.1.0
@nxext/ionic-angular             : 20.0.5
angular-eslint                   : 19.0.2
apollo-angular                   : 8.0.0

Failure Logs

NODE_ENV=development nx run admin-api:build:development
   or
nx run admin-api:build:development
   or
nx build admin-api --configuration development 
    or
nx build admin-api

produces error for all NODE_ENV


=============================

ERROR in main
Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'node-env=development' in '/Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh'
resolve 'node-env=development' in '/Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh'
  Parsed request is a module
  using description file: /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/package.json (relative path: .)
    resolve as module
      looking for modules in /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules
        single file module
          using description file: /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/package.json (relative path: ./node_modules/node-env=development)
            no extension
              /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=development doesn't exist
            .js
              /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=development.js doesn't exist
            .json
              /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=development.json doesn't exist
            .wasm
              /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=development.wasm doesn't exist
        /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=development doesn't exist
      /Users/meanstack02/node_modules doesn't exist or is not a directory
      /Users/node_modules doesn't exist or is not a directory
      /node_modules doesn't exist or is not a directory

webpack 5.97.1 compiled with 1 error in 66 ms
Warning: command "webpack-cli build node-env=development" exited with non-zero status code
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 NX   Running target build for project admin-api failed

Failed tasks:

- admin-api:build:development

Hint: run the command with --verbose for more details.


 NX   Storing terminal outputs for admin-api:build:development with hash 11144559741634519947

View structured, searchable error logs at https://nx.app/runs/2JFVR964YY

Package Manager Version

No response

Operating System

• macOS
• Linux
• Windows
• Other (Please specify)

Additional Information

[nhhockeyplayer]

project.json

This continues to be an issue preventing build in my repo

I created a new workspace 20.3.3, used @nx/nest to create 'admin-api' app and the project .json looks legit and runs fine. BUT I put that project.json into my own repo and it does fail to build with following error which I am trying to figure out what is causing this or what my repo is missing for this to work.

I would like to get my admin-api nestjs app to build any tips are appreciated thank you

RunStart duration: 127
Entrypoint main =

ERROR in main
Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'node-env=production' in '/Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh'
resolve 'node-env=production' in '/Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh'
  Parsed request is a module
  using description file: /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/package.json (relative path: .)
    resolve as module
      looking for modules in /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules
        single file module
          using description file: /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/package.json (relative path: ./node_modules/node-env=production)
            no extension
              /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=production doesn't exist
            .js
              /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=production.js doesn't exist
            .json
              /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=production.json doesn't exist
            .wasm
              /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=production.wasm doesn't exist
        /Users/meanstack02/meanstacknh/node_modules/node-env=production doesn't exist
      /Users/meanstack02/node_modules doesn't exist or is not a directory
      /Users/node_modules doesn't exist or is not a directory
      /node_modules doesn't exist or is not a directory

webpack 5.97.1 compiled with 1 error in 67 ms
Warning: command "webpack-cli build node-env=production" exited with non-zero status code
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 NX   Running target serve for project admin-api and 1 task it depends on failed

Failed tasks:

- admin-api:build

[nhhockeyplayer]

yikes

this text sequence

.) obviously part of a regular expression

named inputs for production inside nx.json
"!{projectRoot}/**/?(*.)+(spec|test).[jt]s?(x)?(.snap)",

is showing up on generated package.json and project.json files from Nx

any comments from the Nx team?

Im continuing drilling into this to try some things

finding easily producible infinite loops that run the OS into boot crash

currently there is no functional nestjs project.json thats buildable
I understand Nx is a moving target but things can at least try to be more fault tolerant

this one is a blocker cant get my nestjs app building trying out all executors
have yet to debug my front end MFE boot up
looking forward to next patch release