Cannot get ava transpile to work with relatively-imported files - node.js

Question

The ES6 import works in this file, but generates an unexpected token import error when I'm importing relative files such as my Mongoose User model.
import mongoose from 'mongoose';
^^^^^^
SyntaxError: Unexpected token import
.babelrc
{
"presets": [
["es2015", { "modules": false }]
],
"plugins": [
"transform-object-rest-spread",
"transform-async-to-generator",
"transform-export-extensions"
]
}
package.json
"ava": {
"require": [
"babel-register"
]
}
users.test.js
import test from 'ava'
import axios from 'axios'
import User from '../../models/user'
import { USER_REGISTRATION_ROUTES } from '../helpers/_test.properties.js'
test('user registration api works', async function (t) {
const email = `test${Date.now()}#example.com`
const userRegistrationData = {
email,
first_name: "john",
last_name: "doe",
password: "password"
}
await axios.post(USER_REGISTRATION_ROUTES, userRegistrationData)
.then(response => {
const data = response.data.data
const user = data.user
t.deepEqual(response.status, 200, 'Verify: response is successful')
t.deepEqual(data.registered, true, 'Verify: user is registered')
t.truthy(Object.keys(user).length > 0,
'Verify: if registered, user object is returned')
t.truthy(user.authentication_token,
'Verify: token is generated on successful registration')
})
.catch((err) => {
t.fail(`Cannot make requst to register user ${err}`)
})
User.remove({ email }, function (err) {
if (err) {
console.log('error')
} else {
console.log('success deleting test user')
}
})
})

Answer 1

Don't think import is supported in nodejs yet. You have to use require.
const mongoose = require('mongoose');

Answer 2

The answer that worked for me was the following suggested by Serge Seletskyy here. The es2017 preset is required for ES2017 features such as async await.
.babelrc
{
"presets": [
"es2017",
"#ava/stage-4",
"stage-3"
],
"plugins": [
"transform-runtime"
]
}
package.json
"ava": {
"require": [
"babel-register"
],
"babel": "inherit"
}
install modules
yarn add babel-register babel-preset-es2017 #ava/babel-preset-stage-4 babel-plugin-transform-runtime babel-preset-stage-3 --dev
Running ./node_modules/.bin/ava --verbose should now work

Answer 3

Non-test files are loaded through babel-register, which applies your .babelrc. However you've disabled module transpilation. I see in another comment that you're using Webpack. Try adding a environment config for Babel which restores module transpilation. From the top of my head:
{
"presets": [
["es2015", { "modules": false }]
],
"plugins": [
"transform-object-rest-spread",
"transform-async-to-generator",
"transform-export-extensions"
],
"env": {
"test": {
"presets": [
["es2015", { "modules": true }]
]
}
}
}
This should work with the latest AVA version.

Answer 4

My version of Ava is 1.0.0-beta.4, and below is the solution that worked for me:
Add the following to your package.json
"ava": {
"require": [
"#babel/register"
]
}
Then npm install --save-dev #babel/register, and run test again.