readline createInterface is not a function when run client-side

Question

Issue using readline

Setup

• I am trying to use 'readline' package in a client-side dev setup, using watchify targeting a bundle.js file and python to create a server.
• The module works fine with node.js but fails to work in this dev setup.

"TypeError: readline.createInterface is not a function"

const rl = require("readline")
// const readline = rl.default
const ui = rl.createInterface({
  input: process.stdin,
  output: process.stdout,
});

I found one solution in another stackoverflow post for readline-promise, (and in an issue log for the repo) claiming the problem could be avoided by explicitly targeting the default entry point (?). Doesn't work for me here however!