vite-node: Support interactive console (REPL)

[rChaoz]

Clear and concise description of the problem

I like to test part of my code in the Node interactive console, i.e. REPL:

$ node
> const { myFunc } = await import("$lib/my/file")
> myFunc(123)

However, this of course does not work because it doesn't resolve stuff (like the "$lib" alias, virtual modules etc.). For this, I use vite-node. But currently this only works with files - I have to create a file, run it with vite-node, repeat.

Suggested solution

Allow running vite-node without arguments to enter interactive mode (REPL).

Alternative

Keep using files instead.

Additional context

No response

Validations

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• Read the Contributing Guidelines.
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• Check that there isn't already an issue that request the same feature to avoid creating a duplicate.

[hi-ogawa]

This is probably doable. I wonder if there's any tools already doing this. I have a prototype based on Vite 6's module runner in https://github.com/hi-ogawa/vite-environment-examples/tree/main/examples/browser-cli.

To make it work like node's repl, we'll need more proper transforms to handle declarations let, const and also add return to the last expression statement. I just found Node does something like this https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/746b17e1a5a9d09294b4c993a0319be6e5c39837/lib/repl.js#L432

[hi-ogawa]

Team decided that we don't add a new feature on top of vite-node anymore as we plan to migrate to use a primitive from Vite core directly. Repl-like feature can be implemented on top of Vite ssr/module runner level, so I'll experiment with that instead.

Thanks for the idea, but closing this issue for now.