Node.js Typescript Azure Function: Cannot import with absolute path ( minimal reproducible example attached)

I have this Nodejs Typescript Azure function in local:

<root-directory>
├── README.md
├── dist
├── host.json
├── local.settings.json
├── node_modules
├── package-lock.json
├── package.json
├── sealworker
│   ├── constants
│   ├── errors
│   ├── function.json
│   ├── index.ts
│   ├── interfaces
│   ├── sample.dat
│   ├── services
│   │     ├── worker.ts
│   │     └── ...
│   └── utils
│         ├── machineInfo.ts
│         └── ...
└── tsconfig.json

This is the tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "commonjs",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "target": "es6",
    "outDir": "dist",
    "rootDir": ".",
    "sourceMap": true,
    "strict": false,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "preserveConstEnums": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
    "baseUrl": "./sealworker",
    "paths": {
      "*": [
        "*",
        "sealworker/*",
        "node_modules/*"
      ]
    }
  },
  "exclude": [
    "node_modules",
    "**/*.test.ts"
  ],
  "include": [
    "**/*"
  ]
}

package.json:

{
  "name": "azure_function",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsc",
    "watch": "tsc -w",
    "clean": "rimraf dist",
    "prestart": "npm run clean && npm run build",
    "start": "func start",
    "test": "echo \"No tests yet...\""
  },

   ...

This is the index.ts, which imports a function from ./services/worker.ts:

import { AzureFunction, Context, HttpRequest } from "@azure/functions";
import { workerExec } from "./services/worker";

const sealWorkerFunction: AzureFunction = async function (
  context: Context,
  req: HttpRequest
): Promise<void> {

...

and this is the ./services/worker.ts:

import "dotenv/config";
import "reflect-metadata";
import { HttpRequest, Context } from "@azure/functions";
import { getMachineInfo } from "utils/machineInfo";

export const workerExec = async (req: HttpRequest, context: Context) => {
  context.log("start....");

And this is utils/machineInfo.ts:

import os from "os";

// Get the machine info that identifies the current host running this code;
export const getMachineInfo = () => {
  const machineInfo = {
    // The machine's hostname;
    hostname: os.hostname(),
    // the machine's number of CPUs;
    numCPUs: os.cpus().length,
  };
  return machineInfo;
};

Now it is complaining that the in line:

import { getMachineInfo } from "utils/machineInfo";

it cannot find module 'utils/machineInfo':

Error message:

[2023-08-10T03:59:00.616Z] Worker was unable to load entry point "dist/sealworker/index.js": Cannot find module 'utils/machineInfo'
[2023-08-10T03:59:00.616Z] Require stack:
[2023-08-10T03:59:00.616Z] - /Users/code/seal/azure_function/dist/sealworker/services/worker.js
[2023-08-10T03:59:00.616Z] - /Users/code/seal/azure_function/dist/sealworker/index.js
[2023-08-10T03:59:00.616Z] - /usr/local/Cellar/azure-functions-core-tools@4/4.0.5198/workers/node/dist/src/worker-bundle.js
[2023-08-10T03:59:00.616Z] - /usr/local/Cellar/azure-functions-core-tools@4/4.0.5198/workers/node/dist/src/nodejsWorker.js

I have tried different things with "baseUrl" and "paths" in tsconfig.json, and the values should be straight-forward and self explanatory now. But apparently I have made a mistake somewhere....

Any suggestions?

--------- UPDATE ---------

I have made a public minimal reproducible repo at: https://github.com/DaCao/minimal_reproducible_example

To reproduce, git clone this repo and open VS Code:

1. You need to have Azure tools plugin installed in VS Code;

2. In local WORKSPACE, click the azure functions icon and choose:

3. Go through the creation process; select Programming Model V3;

4. After setting up the local project, build the nodejs:

john@MacBook-Pro:~/myapp/code/minimal_reproducible_example$ ls
host.json            local.settings.json  node_modules/        package-lock.json    package.json         sealworker/          tsconfig.json
john@MacBook-Pro:~/myapp/code/minimal_reproducible_example$ npm run-script build

> minimal_reproducible_example@1.0.0 build /Users/john/myapp/code/minimal_reproducible_example
> tsc

john@MacBook-Pro:~/myapp/code/minimal_reproducible_example$ 

you also need to have Azure Function Core Tools installed:

john@MacBook-Pro:~/myapp/code/minimal_reproducible_example$ func -v 
4.0.5198

and then just run:

john@MacBook-Pro:~/myapp/code/minimal_reproducible_example$ func start

you should see the error:

...

For detailed output, run func with --verbose flag.
[2023-08-11T05:38:06.464Z] Worker process started and initialized.
[2023-08-11T05:38:06.474Z] Worker was unable to load function sealworker: 'Cannot find module 'services/JobProcessor'
[2023-08-11T05:38:06.474Z] Require stack:
[2023-08-11T05:38:06.474Z] - /Users/john/myapp/code/minimal_reproducible_example/dist/sealworker/services/worker.js
[2023-08-11T05:38:06.474Z] - /Users/john/myapp/code/minimal_reproducible_example/dist/sealworker/index.js
[2023-08-11T05:38:06.474Z] - /usr/local/Cellar/azure-functions-core-tools@4/4.0.5198/workers/node/dist/src/worker-bundle.js
[2023-08-11T05:38:06.474Z] - /usr/local/Cellar/azure-functions-core-tools@4/4.0.5198/workers/node/dist/src/nodejsWorker.js'

...

Based on your stack trace, I guess you compile your code with tsc and then gets executed with node. Keep in mind that if you build with tsc, the absolute paths will end up not converting to relative path at all.

As result of that, I would recommend to have an extra step to convert those paths by using tsc-alias

// package.json
{
  "build": "tsc && tsc-alias",
}

Update after looking at the example repo:

I noted that you set rootDir: "." which is to include your built code under the same dir sealworker but unfortunately this setup prevents tsc-alias from working properly for some reason that I have no idea too (it could be a bug to report to them).

Anyway I would suggest either set up another command to move the built code into the dir or even remove this setup and place built code under dist is enough.