diff --git a/plugins/nodejs.json b/plugins/nodejs.json
index 3dc93c129e4..f56ef938210 100644
--- a/plugins/nodejs.json
+++ b/plugins/nodejs.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jetify-com/devbox/main/.schema/devbox-plugin.schema.json",
-    "version": "0.0.3",
+    "version": "0.0.4",
     "name": "nodejs",
     "readme": "Devbox automatically configures Corepack for Nodejs when DEVBOX_COREPACK_ENABLED=1. You can install Yarn or Pnpm by adding them to your `package.json` file using `packageManager`\nCorepack binaries will be installed in your local `.devbox` directory\n\nWhen Corepack is enabled, Devbox also activates the package manager pinned in your `package.json` `packageManager` field automatically. Set DEVBOX_DISABLE_NODEJS_PACKAGE_MANAGER_AUTODETECT=1 to disable this behavior.",
     "env": {
@@ -9,11 +9,11 @@
     },
     "shell": {
         "init_hook": [
-            "node \"{{ .Virtenv }}/bin/setup-corepack.js\""
+            "node \"{{ .Virtenv }}/bin/setup-corepack.mjs\""
         ]
     },
     "create_files": {
       "{{ .Virtenv }}/corepack-bin": "",
-      "{{ .Virtenv }}/bin/setup-corepack.js": "nodejs/setup-corepack.js"
+      "{{ .Virtenv }}/bin/setup-corepack.mjs": "nodejs/setup-corepack.mjs"
     }
 }
diff --git a/plugins/nodejs/setup-corepack.js b/plugins/nodejs/setup-corepack.mjs
similarity index 67%
rename from plugins/nodejs/setup-corepack.js
rename to plugins/nodejs/setup-corepack.mjs
index f2471067895..1ca1dd175cc 100644
--- a/plugins/nodejs/setup-corepack.js
+++ b/plugins/nodejs/setup-corepack.mjs
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 // Configures Corepack for the Devbox shell. This is the nodejs plugin's
-// init_hook, invoked as: node setup-corepack.js
+// init_hook, invoked as: node setup-corepack.mjs
+//
+// The .mjs extension forces Node to treat this as an ES module regardless of
+// the project's package.json "type" field. A plain .js file would be parsed as
+// CommonJS or ESM depending on that field, so it would break in one case or the
+// other (see issue #2856).
 //
 // It is a no-op unless DEVBOX_COREPACK_ENABLED is set, in which case it:
 //   1. Enables Corepack, installing its package-manager shims into the
@@ -9,8 +14,9 @@
 //      "packageManager" field (pnpm, yarn, npm, ...), unless
 //      DEVBOX_DISABLE_NODEJS_PACKAGE_MANAGER_AUTODETECT is set.
 
-const { execFileSync } = require("node:child_process");
-const path = require("node:path");
+import { execFileSync } from "node:child_process";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import path from "node:path";
 
 if (!process.env.DEVBOX_COREPACK_ENABLED) {
   process.exit(0);
@@ -37,11 +43,17 @@ function activatePinnedPackageManager() {
     return;
   }
 
+  // Read package.json directly rather than importing it: JSON module import
+  // syntax differs across Node versions, whereas readFileSync + JSON.parse
+  // works everywhere.
   let packageManager;
   try {
-    ({ packageManager } = require(path.join(projectRoot, "package.json")));
+    const pkg = JSON.parse(
+      readFileSync(path.join(projectRoot, "package.json"), "utf8"),
+    );
+    ({ packageManager } = pkg);
   } catch {
-    // No package.json (or it is unreadable) — nothing to autodetect.
+    // No package.json (or it is unreadable/invalid) — nothing to autodetect.
     return;
   }
 
diff --git a/testscripts/plugin/nodejs_corepack_autodetect.test.txt b/testscripts/plugin/nodejs_corepack_autodetect.test.txt
index ed10396b30b..81e05655b9a 100644
--- a/testscripts/plugin/nodejs_corepack_autodetect.test.txt
+++ b/testscripts/plugin/nodejs_corepack_autodetect.test.txt
@@ -23,8 +23,21 @@ cp package-no-pkgmgr.json package.json
 exec devbox run -- node -e 'console.log("case2-ok")'
 stdout 'case2-ok'
 
+# Case 3: package.json sets "type": "module" (regression test for #2856).
+# The setup script must still run; its .mjs extension keeps it an ES module
+# regardless of the project package.json's "type" field.
+cp package-esm.json package.json
+exec devbox run -- node -e 'console.log("case3-ok")'
+stdout 'case3-ok'
+
 -- package-no-pkgmgr.json --
 {
   "name": "nodejs-corepack-autodetect",
   "version": "1.0.0"
 }
+-- package-esm.json --
+{
+  "name": "nodejs-corepack-autodetect",
+  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "type": "module"
+}