Changelog - 2026-09-06

configs.projectRoot

New Feature

In one line. The project root is a config value; the override that every application copied to return __dirname becomes one line.

export const configs: IServerApplicationConfigs = {
  path: { base: '/api', isStrict: true },
  projectRoot: process.env.APP_ROOT ?? process.cwd(),
};

The problem it solves

ServerApplication.getProjectRoot() returned process.cwd(). An application whose root is the directory of its application file overrode the method with the same three lines, changing only process.cwd() to __dirname. Sixteen packages in one consumer carried that copy.

What changed

Symbol	Change	Package
IServerApplicationConfigs.projectRoot	New optional string	core-server
ServerApplication.getProjectRoot()	Returns configs.projectRoot ?? process.cwd(); still binds CoreBindings.APPLICATION_PROJECT_ROOT; hands the value to ModuleUtility.setProjectRoot()	core-server
ModuleUtility.setProjectRoot() / getProjectRoot()	New; every optional-peer lookup (loadSync, assertInstalled) resolves under <projectRoot>/node_modules instead of the process cwd	helpers
GrpcRequestAdapter	Resolves @connectrpc/connect under the same root	core-server

• Until now the binding had no reader: nothing in the framework resolved anything from it. It now decides where optional peers are looked up: ModuleUtility.loadSync/assertInstalled (mail transports, the secrets providers) and the gRPC adapter. The pino transports resolve at the first log line, usually before an application exists, and keep using the cwd.
• Set projectRoot only to the directory that holds node_modules at run time. In a bun build --compile binary __dirname is the compile-time directory and import.meta.dir is virtual, so a binary leaves the option unset (the cwd) or derives it from process.execPath. When the option is set and <projectRoot>/node_modules does not exist, the boot log carries one warning.
• The value is read in the base constructor, before preConfigure(), so it must come from the config object, not from something bound later.
• An override of getProjectRoot() still wins; nothing forces the change.

Who is affected

• Applications that override getProjectRoot() only to return __dirname. (A consumer that already deleted its overrides keeps the cwd and sees no change at this bump.) Delete the override; the default (process.cwd()) is what peer resolution used all along. Set projectRoot only when the process really runs from another directory, and never to __dirname in a compiled binary.
• Everyone else. No action needed.

Details

• Reference: Application.