Sails New Demo App Dead on Arrival Due to NeDB Errors

[tdworz]

Basics
Operating System: MacOS 15.5
Node Version: 24.4.0
NPM Version: 11.4.2
Sails Version: 1.5.14

Issue
I decided to check out Sails.js for the first time today. Following the Getting Started page, this was my experience:

$ npm install sails -g
...
npm warn deprecated inflight@1.0.6: This module is not supported, and leaks memory. Do not use it. Check out lru-cache if you want a good and tested way to coalesce async requests by a key value, which is much more comprehensive and powerful.
npm warn deprecated rimraf@2.7.1: Rimraf versions prior to v4 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated glob@7.2.3: Glob versions prior to v9 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated glob@7.1.2: Glob versions prior to v9 are no longer supported
...

$ sails new test-project
 Choose a template for your new Sails app:
 1. Web App  ·  Extensible project with auth, login, & password recovery
...
? 1
...

$ cd test-project 
$ sails lift

 info: Starting app...

 info: Initializing project hook... (`api/hooks/custom/`)
 info: Initializing `apianalytics` hook...  (requests to monitored routes will be logged!)
 info: ·• Auto-migrating...  (alter)
 info:    Hold tight, this could take a moment.
(node:24478) [DEP0044] DeprecationWarning: The `util.isArray` API is deprecated. Please use `Array.isArray()` instead.
(Use `node --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)
 info:  ✓ Auto-migration complete.

debug: Running v0 bootstrap script...  (looks like this is the first time the bootstrap has run on this computer)
error: Bootstrap encountered an error: (see below)
error: 
error: OperationalError [AdapterError]: Unexpected error from database adapter: util.isDate is not a function
    at module.exports.bootstrap (/Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/config/bootstrap.js:62:14) {
  cause: Error [AdapterError]: Unexpected error from database adapter: util.isDate is not a function
      at module.exports.bootstrap (/Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/config/bootstrap.js:62:14) {
    adapterMethodName: 'createEach',
    modelIdentity: 'user',
    raw: TypeError: util.isDate is not a function
        at Object.deepCopy (/Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/lib/model.js:116:14)
        at Datastore.prepareDocumentForInsertion (/Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/lib/datastore.js:384:25)
        at /Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/lib/datastore.js:382:59
        at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
        at Datastore.prepareDocumentForInsertion (/Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/lib/datastore.js:382:12)
        at Datastore._insert (/Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/lib/datastore.js:348:24)
        at /Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/lib/executor.js:40:13
        at Immediate.process (/Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/node_modules/async/lib/async.js:731:21)
        at process.processImmediate (node:internal/timers:505:21)
  },
  isOperational: true,
  adapterMethodName: 'createEach',
  modelIdentity: 'user',
  raw: TypeError: util.isDate is not a function
      at Object.deepCopy (/Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/lib/model.js:116:14)
      at Datastore.prepareDocumentForInsertion (/Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/lib/datastore.js:384:25)
      at /Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/lib/datastore.js:382:59
      at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
      at Datastore.prepareDocumentForInsertion (/Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/lib/datastore.js:382:12)
      at Datastore._insert (/Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/lib/datastore.js:348:24)
      at /Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/lib/executor.js:40:13
      at Immediate.process (/Users/tom/Code/Playground/test-project/node_modules/@sailshq/nedb/node_modules/async/lib/async.js:731:21)
      at process.processImmediate (node:internal/timers:505:21)
}

error: Could not load Sails app.
error: 
error: Tips:
error:  • First, take a look at the error message above.
error:  • Make sure you've installed dependencies with `npm install`.
error:  • Check that this app was built for a compatible version of Sails.
error:  • Have a question or need help?  (http://sailsjs.com/support)

---

Since this seems to be an NeDB error, I went to check in with NeDB. Looks like they stopped maintenance in 2021 (louischatriot/nedb@2436f61) and there has not been any new code added since 2016.

Perhaps it's time to rely on something else for the demo functionality.

The Empty app option (option 2 when running sails new) generated an app that ran fine.

[sailsbot]

@tdworz Thanks for posting! We'll take a look as soon as possible.

In the mean time, there are a few ways you can help speed things along:

• look for a workaround. (Even if it's just temporary, sharing your solution can save someone else a lot of time and effort.)
• tell us why this issue is important to you and your team. What are you trying to accomplish? (Submissions with a little bit of human context tend to be easier to understand and faster to resolve.)
• make sure you've provided clear instructions on how to reproduce the bug from a clean install.
• double-check that you've provided all of the requested version and dependency information. (Some of this info might seem irrelevant at first, like which database adapter you're using, but we ask that you include it anyway. Oftentimes an issue is caused by a confluence of unexpected factors, and it can save everybody a ton of time to know all the details up front.)
• read the code of conduct.
• if appropriate, ask your business to sponsor your issue. (Open source is our passion, and our core maintainers volunteer many of their nights and weekends working on Sails. But you only get so many nights and weekends in life, and stuff gets done a lot faster when you can work on it during normal daylight hours.)
• let us know if you are using a 3rd party plugin; whether that's a database adapter, a non-standard view engine, or any other dependency maintained by someone other than our core team. (Besides the name of the 3rd party package, it helps to include the exact version you're using. If you're unsure, check out this list of all the core packages we maintain.)

---

Please remember: never post in a public forum if you believe you've found a genuine security vulnerability. Instead, disclose it responsibly.

For help with questions about Sails, click here.

[eashaw]

@tdworz Thank you for reporting this issue.

It looks like the current version of @sailshq/nedb is not compatible with the latest version of Node. We will release a patch to replace the deprecated methods used in @sailshq/nedb and make it compatible with Node v24.

In the meantime, you should be able to use Node v22 to try out Sails.