React Native build issues due to ai dependency

[WillyReyno]

🐛 Current behavior

Hello,

Since upgrading my Algolia packages, my Expo project build is failing due to an @vercel/oidc not being resolved, which is tied to the "ai" dependency recently added to your packages.

Upgrades done:

• react-instantsearch-core 7.16.3 to 7.17.0 (ai added in 9e79c1f)
• instantsearch-ui-components 0.11.2 to 0.12.0 (ai added in 4967237)
• instantsearch.js from 4.80.0 to 4.81.0 (ai added in d7b360b)

Build error:

Metro has encountered an error: While trying to resolve module `@vercel/oidc` from file `/users/MyUser/MyApp/node_modules/@ai-sdk/gateway/dist/index.js`, the package `/users/MyUser/MyApp/node_modules/@vercel/oidc/package.json` was successfully found. However, this package itself specifies a `main` module field that could not be resolved (`/users/MyUser/MyApp/node_modules/@vercel/oidc/index`. Indeed, none of these files exist:

  * /users/MyUser/MyApp/node_modules/@vercel/oidc/index(.ios.ts|.native.ts|.ts|.ios.tsx|.native.tsx|.tsx|.ios.mjs|.native.mjs|.mjs|.ios.js|.native.js|.js|.ios.jsx|.native.jsx|.jsx|.ios.json|.native.json|.json|.ios.cjs|.native.cjs|.cjs|.ios.scss|.native.scss|.scss|.ios.sass|.native.sass|.sass|.ios.css|.native.css|.css|.ios.css|.native.css|.css)
  * /users/MyUser/MyApp/node_modules/@vercel/oidc/index/index(.ios.ts|.native.ts|.ts|.ios.tsx|.native.tsx|.tsx|.ios.mjs|.native.mjs|.mjs|.ios.js|.native.js|.js|.ios.jsx|.native.jsx|.jsx|.ios.json|.native.json|.json|.ios.cjs|.native.cjs|.cjs|.ios.scss|.native.scss|.scss|.ios.sass|.native.sass|.sass|.ios.css|.native.css|.css|.ios.css|.native.css|.css): /users/MyUser/MyApp/node_modules/metro/src/node-haste/DependencyGraph.js (267:17)

  265 |         }
  266 |         if (error instanceof _metroResolver.InvalidPackageError) {
> 267 |           throw new _metroCore.PackageResolutionError({
      |                 ^
  268 |             packageError: error,
  269 |             originModulePath,
  270 |             targetModuleName: to,

It seems to be related to vercel/ai#9219 and the error disappears if I force "@ai-sdk/react": "^2.0.59" and "ai": "^5.0.59" as mentionned in a comment, but I think there might be something to fix in the dependencies of Algolia packages

Any help would be welcome!

🔍 Steps to reproduce

...

Live reproduction

None, sorry

💭 Expected behavior

App build should work without having to install additional dependencies / downgrading dependencies installed by Algolia packages.

Package version

instantsearch.js 4.81.0, instantsearch-ui-components 0.12.0, react-instantsearch-core 7.17.0

Operating system

macOS 26.1

Browser

None

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[Haroenv]

If you're not using the chat component (which I guess isn't the case on react native), you can indeed force those dependencies to be aliased to a version that works for you, or an entirely empty package.

As this is downstream, we can't do that much about it right now, but will look into checking if making ai more optional could be possible.

[Tim-Pet]

@WillyReyno Same issue for us. @vercel/oidc is ESM-only and breaks Metro.

We resolved it temporary by mocking AI module during bundling, blocking it in the end.

@vercel/oidc is a transitive dependency of @ai-sdk/gateway (via instantsearch).
This config blocks it and mocks it so the app can bundle

// Learn more https://docs.expo.io/guides/customizing-metro
const { getDefaultConfig } = require('expo/metro-config');

const config = getDefaultConfig(__dirname);

// Adds support for `mjs` files (for i18n-js)
config.resolver.sourceExts.push('mjs');

// Ensure node_modules are properly resolved
config.resolver.platforms = ['ios', 'android', 'native', 'web'];
config.resolver.unstable_enableSymlinks = false;

// Alias problematic packages to empty mocks (as suggested by package authors)
// @vercel/oidc is an ESM-only package used by @ai-sdk/gateway but not needed in React Native
// Since we're not using the chat component, we can alias it to an empty package
const path = require('path');
const originalResolveRequest = config.resolver.resolveRequest;
config.resolver.resolveRequest = (context, moduleName, platform) => {
  // Alias @vercel/oidc to empty mock (not needed for React Native, only for chat component)
  if (moduleName === '@vercel/oidc') {
    return {
      filePath: path.resolve(__dirname, 'metro-mocks/@vercel/oidc.js'),
      type: 'sourceFile',
    };
  }
  // Use default resolver for everything else
  if (originalResolveRequest) {
    return originalResolveRequest(context, moduleName, platform);
  }
  return context.resolveRequest(context, moduleName, platform);
};

module.exports = config;

where metro-mocks/@vercel/oidc.js is:

module.exports = {};

[WillyReyno]

@Tim-Pet thanks for the workaround, works like a charm!