diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/get-config-file.js b/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/get-config-file.js
index eabc24e26c837..dc99ccc5d0b82 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/get-config-file.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/get-config-file.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /* @flow */
 const levenshtein = require(`fast-levenshtein`)
 const fs = require(`fs-extra`)
-const testRequireError = require(`../utils/test-require-error`).default
+import { testRequireError } from "../utils/test-require-error"
 const report = require(`gatsby-cli/lib/reporter`)
 const path = require(`path`)
 const existsSync = require(`fs-exists-cached`).sync
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ module.exports = async function getConfigFile(
   distance: number = 3
 ) {
   const configPath = path.join(rootDir, configName)
-  let configModule, configFilePath
+  let configModule
+  let configFilePath
   try {
     configFilePath = require.resolve(configPath)
     configModule = require(configFilePath)
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/resolve-module-exports.js b/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/resolve-module-exports.js
index 0fbc9ffdd0b29..6ad756dde6fc9 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/resolve-module-exports.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/resolve-module-exports.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ const { codeFrameColumns } = require(`@babel/code-frame`)
 const { babelParseToAst } = require(`../utils/babel-parse-to-ast`)
 const report = require(`gatsby-cli/lib/reporter`)
 
-const testRequireError = require(`../utils/test-require-error`).default
+import { testRequireError } from "../utils/test-require-error"
 
 const staticallyAnalyzeExports = (modulePath, resolver = require.resolve) => {
   let absPath
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/utils/__tests__/test-require-error.js b/packages/gatsby/src/utils/__tests__/test-require-error.ts
similarity index 98%
rename from packages/gatsby/src/utils/__tests__/test-require-error.js
rename to packages/gatsby/src/utils/__tests__/test-require-error.ts
index c243f69167ad2..3f7f195f3f086 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/utils/__tests__/test-require-error.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/utils/__tests__/test-require-error.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-const testRequireError = require(`../test-require-error`).default
+import { testRequireError } from "../test-require-error"
 
 describe(`test-require-error`, () => {
   it(`detects require errors`, () => {
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/utils/test-require-error.js b/packages/gatsby/src/utils/test-require-error.ts
similarity index 89%
rename from packages/gatsby/src/utils/test-require-error.js
rename to packages/gatsby/src/utils/test-require-error.ts
index 56fdb35187ad6..ea3cf0463a492 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/utils/test-require-error.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/utils/test-require-error.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // This module is also copied into the .cache directory some modules copied there
 // from cache-dir can also use this module.
-export default (moduleName, err) => {
+export const testRequireError = (moduleName: string, err: any): boolean => {
   // PnP will return the following code when a require is allowed per the
   // dependency tree rules but the requested file doesn't exist
   if (