wrangler >=4.122.0 changed the default of `nodejs_compat`. With a compatibility date of 2026-08-04 or later it is on; to turn it off, remove the positive flags and add both no_nodejs_compat and no_nodejs_compat_v2. Silent: code written for older versions still runs, without an error.

const { spawnSync } = require("child_process");
const fs = require("fs");
const path = require("path");
const dir = "/w/proj";
fs.rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
fs.mkdirSync(dir, { recursive: true });
const home = fs.mkdtempSync("/tmp/home-");
function wrangler(args, extraEnv, dropEnv) {
  const env = Object.assign({}, process.env, { CI: "1", WRANGLER_SEND_METRICS: "false", NO_COLOR: "1", FORCE_COLOR: "0", HOME: home }, extraEnv || {});
  for (const k of dropEnv || []) delete env[k];
  const r = spawnSync(process.execPath, ["--no-warnings", "/w/node_modules/wrangler/wrangler-dist/cli.js", ...args], { cwd: dir, encoding: "utf8", timeout: 40000, env });
  const out = (String(r.stdout || "") + String(r.stderr || "")).replace(/\x1b\[[0-9;]*m/g, "");
  return { status: r.status, out };
}
function symptom(msg) { console.error("FAIL: " + msg); process.exit(1); }
function broken(msg, out) {
  console.error("ERROR: " + msg);
  if (out) console.error(out.slice(-2000));
  process.exit(2);
}
function write(name, content) {
  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(dir, name), typeof content === "string" ? content : JSON.stringify(content, null, 2));
}
write("index.js", 'import path from "path";\nexport default { fetch() { return new Response(path.join("a", "b")); } };\n');
write("wrangler.json", { name: "nodejs-compat-default", main: "index.js", compatibility_date: "2026-08-04" });
let r = wrangler(["deploy", "--dry-run", "--outdir", "out"]);
if (r.status !== 0 && r.out.includes('Could not resolve "path"')) symptom("a bare Node.js import fails to build on compatibility date 2026-08-04 without nodejs_compat");
if (r.status !== 0 || !r.out.includes("--dry-run: exiting now.")) broken("unexpected result from the dry run without flags", r.out);
write("wrangler.json", { name: "nodejs-compat-default", main: "index.js", compatibility_date: "2026-08-04", compatibility_flags: ["no_nodejs_compat", "no_nodejs_compat_v2"] });
r = wrangler(["deploy", "--dry-run", "--outdir", "out2"]);
if (r.status === 0 || !r.out.includes('Could not resolve "path"')) broken("no_nodejs_compat plus no_nodejs_compat_v2 did not turn Node.js compatibility off", r.out);
console.log("OK: Node.js compatibility is on by default from 2026-08-04; both no_ flags turn it off");

const { spawnSync } = require("child_process");
const fs = require("fs");
const path = require("path");
const dir = "/w/proj";
fs.rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
fs.mkdirSync(dir, { recursive: true });
const home = fs.mkdtempSync("/tmp/home-");
function wrangler(args, extraEnv, dropEnv) {
  const env = Object.assign({}, process.env, { CI: "1", WRANGLER_SEND_METRICS: "false", NO_COLOR: "1", FORCE_COLOR: "0", HOME: home }, extraEnv || {});
  for (const k of dropEnv || []) delete env[k];
  const r = spawnSync(process.execPath, ["--no-warnings", "/w/node_modules/wrangler/wrangler-dist/cli.js", ...args], { cwd: dir, encoding: "utf8", timeout: 40000, env });
  const out = (String(r.stdout || "") + String(r.stderr || "")).replace(/\x1b\[[0-9;]*m/g, "");
  return { status: r.status, out };
}
function symptom(msg) { console.error("FAIL: " + msg); process.exit(1); }
function broken(msg, out) {
  console.error("ERROR: " + msg);
  if (out) console.error(out.slice(-2000));
  process.exit(2);
}
function write(name, content) {
  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(dir, name), typeof content === "string" ? content : JSON.stringify(content, null, 2));
}
write("index.js", 'import path from "path";\nexport default { fetch() { return new Response(path.join("a", "b")); } };\n');
write("wrangler.json", { name: "nodejs-compat-default", main: "index.js", compatibility_date: "2026-08-04" });
let r = wrangler(["deploy", "--dry-run", "--outdir", "out"]);
if (r.status !== 0 && r.out.includes('Could not resolve "path"')) symptom("a bare Node.js import fails to build on compatibility date 2026-08-04 without nodejs_compat");
if (r.status !== 0 || !r.out.includes("--dry-run: exiting now.")) broken("unexpected result from the dry run without flags", r.out);
write("wrangler.json", { name: "nodejs-compat-default", main: "index.js", compatibility_date: "2026-08-04", compatibility_flags: ["no_nodejs_compat", "no_nodejs_compat_v2"] });
r = wrangler(["deploy", "--dry-run", "--outdir", "out2"]);
if (r.status === 0 || !r.out.includes('Could not resolve "path"')) broken("no_nodejs_compat plus no_nodejs_compat_v2 did not turn Node.js compatibility off", r.out);
console.log("OK: Node.js compatibility is on by default from 2026-08-04; both no_ flags turn it off");