---
title: no-restricted-imports - Rules
layout: doc
edit_link: https://github.com/eslint/eslint/edit/master/docs/rules/no-restricted-imports.md
---
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# Disallow specific imports (no-restricted-imports)

Imports are an ES6/ES2015 standard for making the functionality of other modules available in your current module. In CommonJS this is implemented through the require() call which makes this ESLint rule roughly equivalent to its CommonJS counterpart `no-restricted-modules`.

Why would you want to restrict imports?

* Some imports might not make sense in a particular environment. For example, Node.js' `fs` module would not make sense in an environment that didn't have a file system.

* Some modules provide similar or identical functionality, think `lodash` and `underscore`. Your project may have standardized on a module. You want to make sure that the other alternatives are not being used as this would unnecessarily bloat the project and provide a higher maintenance cost of two dependencies when one would suffice.

## Rule Details

This rule allows you to specify imports that you don't want to use in your application.

## Options

The syntax to specify restricted imports looks like this:

```json
"no-restricted-imports": ["error", "import1", "import2"]
```

or like this:

```json
"no-restricted-imports": ["error", { "paths": ["import1", "import2"] }]
```

When using the object form, you can also specify an array of gitignore-style patterns:

```json
"no-restricted-imports": ["error", {
    "paths": ["import1", "import2"],
    "patterns": ["import1/private/*", "import2/*", "!import2/good"]
}]
```

You may also specify a custom message for any paths you want to restrict as follows:

```json
"no-restricted-imports": ["error", [{
  "name": "import-foo",
  "message": "Please use import-bar instead."
}]]
```

or like this:

```json
"no-restricted-imports": ["error", {
  "paths": [{
    "name": "import-foo",
    "message": "Please use import-bar instead."
  }]
}]
```

or like this if you need to restrict only certain imports from a module:

```json
"no-restricted-imports": ["error", {
  "paths": [{
    "name": "import-foo",
    "importNames": ["Bar"],
    "message": "Please use Bar from /import-bar/baz/ instead."
  }]
}]
```

The custom message will be appended to the default error message. Please note that you may not specify custom error messages for restricted patterns as a particular import may match more than one pattern.

To restrict the use of all Node.js core imports (via https://github.com/nodejs/node/tree/master/lib):

```json
    "no-restricted-imports": ["error",
         "assert","buffer","child_process","cluster","crypto","dgram","dns","domain","events","freelist","fs","http","https","module","net","os","path","punycode","querystring","readline","repl","smalloc","stream","string_decoder","sys","timers","tls","tracing","tty","url","util","vm","zlib"
    ],
```

## Examples

Examples of **incorrect** code for this rule:

```js
/*eslint no-restricted-imports: ["error", "fs"]*/

import fs from 'fs';
```

```js
/*eslint no-restricted-imports: ["error", { "paths": ["cluster"] }]*/

import cluster from 'cluster';
```

```js
/*eslint no-restricted-imports: ["error", { "patterns": ["lodash/*"] }]*/

import pick from 'lodash/pick';
```

```js
/*eslint no-restricted-imports: ["error", { paths: [{
    name: "foo",
    importNames: ["default"],
    message: "Please use the default import from '/bar/baz/' instead."
}]}]*/

import DisallowedObject from "foo";
```

```js
/*eslint no-restricted-imports: ["error", { paths: [{
    name: "foo",
    importNames: ["DisallowedObject"],
    message: "Please import 'DisallowedObject' from '/bar/baz/' instead."
}]}]*/

import { DisallowedObject as AllowedObject } from "foo";
```

```js
/*eslint no-restricted-imports: ["error", { paths: [{
    name: "foo",
    importNames: ["DisallowedObject"],
    message: "Please import 'DisallowedObject' from '/bar/baz/' instead."
}]}]*/

import * as Foo from "foo";
```

Examples of **correct** code for this rule:

```js
/*eslint no-restricted-imports: ["error", "fs"]*/

import crypto from 'crypto';
```

```js
/*eslint no-restricted-imports: ["error", { "paths": ["fs"], "patterns": ["eslint/*"] }]*/

import crypto from 'crypto';
import eslint from 'eslint';
```

```js
/*eslint no-restricted-imports: ["error", { paths: [{ name: "foo", importNames: ["DisallowedObject"] }] }]*/

import DisallowedObject from "foo"
```

```js
/*eslint no-restricted-imports: ["error", { paths: [{
    name: "foo",
    importNames: ["DisallowedObject"],
    message: "Please import 'DisallowedObject' from '/bar/baz/' instead."
}]}]*/

import { AllowedObject as DisallowedObject } from "foo";
```

## When Not To Use It

Don't use this rule or don't include a module in the list for this rule if you want to be able to import a module in your project without an ESLint error or warning.

## Version

This rule was introduced in ESLint 2.0.0-alpha-1.

## Resources

* [Rule source](https://github.com/eslint/eslint/tree/master/lib/rules/no-restricted-imports.js)
* [Documentation source](https://github.com/eslint/eslint/tree/master/docs/rules/no-restricted-imports.md)
