fix(gaxios): prefer globalThis.fetch over import('node-fetch') on Node.js 18+

[whongj]

Problem

Node.js v22.22.0 crashes when gaxios executes await import("node-fetch") from a CJS context:

TypeError: Cannot convert undefined or null to object
    at hasOwnProperty (<anonymous>)
    at ModuleWrap.<anonymous> (node:internal/modules/esm/translators:213:12)

This kills google-auth-library JWT token exchange, breaking all Vertex AI calls (@google/genai, googleapis/*) on Node.js v22+.

Root Cause

In #getFetch(), the code checks for window (browser detection) but never checks globalThis.fetch, which has been available natively since Node.js 18:

static async #getFetch() {
    const hasWindow = typeof window !== 'undefined' && !!window;
    this.#fetch ||= hasWindow
      ? window.fetch
      : (await import('node-fetch')).default;  // ← crashes Node v22
}

Fix

Check globalThis.fetch before falling back to node-fetch. One line:

-      : (await import('node-fetch')).default;
+      : (typeof globalThis.fetch === 'function' ? globalThis.fetch : (await import('node-fetch')).default);

Verification

# Node.js v22.22.0 — before:
node -e "const {Gaxios}=require('gaxios');new Gaxios().request({url:'https://example.com'}).catch(e=>console.error(e.message))"
# TypeError: Cannot convert undefined or null to object

# After patch:
# 200

Also verified: google-auth-library JWT.getAccessToken() succeeds after patch on Node.js v22.22.0.

Related

• User report (OpenClaw): [Bug]: Vertex embedded runs fail with "Cannot convert undefined or null to object" on v2026.3.1 (Telegram + cron) openclaw/openclaw#32245
• OpenClaw workaround PR: fix(deps): patch gaxios to use globalThis.fetch on Node.js 18+ (fixes #32245) openclaw/openclaw#33116

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