diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f2e7ab67..e566509f 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -72,7 +72,8 @@
     "@docsearch/js": "^1.0.0-alpha.28",
     "@vitejs/plugin-vue": "^1.9.0",
     "vite": "^2.5.0",
-    "vue": "^3.2.13"
+    "vue": "^3.2.13",
+    "prismjs": "^1.23.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@microsoft/api-extractor": "^7.18.9",
@@ -81,13 +82,15 @@
     "@rollup/plugin-json": "^4.1.0",
     "@rollup/plugin-node-resolve": "^13.0.4",
     "@types/compression": "^1.7.0",
+    "@types/debug": "^4.1.7",
     "@types/fs-extra": "^9.0.11",
     "@types/jest": "^26.0.23",
-    "@types/markdown-it": "^12.0.1",
     "@types/koa": "^2.13.1",
     "@types/koa-static": "^4.0.1",
     "@types/lru-cache": "^5.1.0",
+    "@types/markdown-it": "^12.0.1",
     "@types/node": "^15.6.1",
+    "@types/polka": "^0.5.3",
     "@types/postcss-load-config": "^3.0.1",
     "chalk": "^4.1.1",
     "chokidar": "^3.5.1",
@@ -116,7 +119,6 @@
     "ora": "^5.4.0",
     "polka": "^0.5.2",
     "prettier": "^2.3.0",
-    "prismjs": "^1.23.0",
     "rimraf": "^3.0.2",
     "rollup": "^2.56.3",
     "rollup-plugin-esbuild": "^4.5.0",
diff --git a/src/node/build/render.ts b/src/node/build/render.ts
index 7f8f62d6..cec38728 100644
--- a/src/node/build/render.ts
+++ b/src/node/build/render.ts
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@ import { HeadConfig } from '../shared'
 import { normalizePath } from 'vite'
 import { RollupOutput, OutputChunk, OutputAsset } from 'rollup'
 import { slash } from '../utils/slash'
-
-const escape = require('escape-html')
+import escape from 'escape-html'
 
 export async function renderPage(
   config: SiteConfig,
diff --git a/src/node/config.ts b/src/node/config.ts
index 7de96eab..b195b135 100644
--- a/src/node/config.ts
+++ b/src/node/config.ts
@@ -16,10 +16,11 @@ import {
 } from './shared'
 import { resolveAliases, APP_PATH, DEFAULT_THEME_PATH } from './alias'
 import { MarkdownOptions } from './markdown/markdown'
+import _debug from 'debug'
 
 export { resolveSiteDataByRoute } from './shared'
 
-const debug = require('debug')('vitepress:config')
+const debug = _debug('vitepress:config')
 
 export type { MarkdownOptions }
 
diff --git a/src/node/markdown/markdown.ts b/src/node/markdown/markdown.ts
index 544fab7f..ad470949 100644
--- a/src/node/markdown/markdown.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdown/markdown.ts
@@ -13,10 +13,9 @@ import { linkPlugin } from './plugins/link'
 import { extractHeaderPlugin } from './plugins/header'
 import { Header } from '../shared'
 import anchor, { AnchorOptions } from 'markdown-it-anchor'
-
-const attrs = require('markdown-it-attrs')
-const emoji = require('markdown-it-emoji')
-const toc = require('markdown-it-table-of-contents')
+import attrs from 'markdown-it-attrs'
+import emoji from 'markdown-it-emoji'
+import toc from 'markdown-it-table-of-contents'
 
 export interface MarkdownOptions extends MarkdownIt.Options {
   lineNumbers?: boolean
diff --git a/src/node/markdown/plugins/component.ts b/src/node/markdown/plugins/component.ts
index 62ef9a55..accacb8d 100644
--- a/src/node/markdown/plugins/component.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdown/plugins/component.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 import MarkdownIt from 'markdown-it'
 import { RuleBlock } from 'markdown-it/lib/parser_block'
+import blockNames from 'markdown-it/lib/common/html_blocks'
+import { HTML_OPEN_CLOSE_TAG_RE } from 'markdown-it/lib/common/html_re'
 
 // Replacing the default htmlBlock rule to allow using custom components at
 // root level
 
-const blockNames: string[] = require('markdown-it/lib/common/html_blocks')
-const HTML_OPEN_CLOSE_TAG_RE: RegExp =
-  require('markdown-it/lib/common/html_re').HTML_OPEN_CLOSE_TAG_RE
-
 // An array of opening and corresponding closing sequences for html tags,
 // last argument defines whether it can terminate a paragraph or not
 const HTML_SEQUENCES: [RegExp, RegExp, boolean][] = [
diff --git a/src/node/markdown/plugins/containers.ts b/src/node/markdown/plugins/containers.ts
index f632a0fe..1afd55ca 100644
--- a/src/node/markdown/plugins/containers.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdown/plugins/containers.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import MarkdownIt from 'markdown-it'
 import Token from 'markdown-it/lib/token'
-
-const container = require('markdown-it-container')
+import container from 'markdown-it-container'
 
 export const containerPlugin = (md: MarkdownIt) => {
   md.use(...createContainer('tip', 'TIP'))
diff --git a/src/node/markdown/plugins/highlight.ts b/src/node/markdown/plugins/highlight.ts
index b9dbe0c9..aab5f996 100644
--- a/src/node/markdown/plugins/highlight.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdown/plugins/highlight.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
-const chalk = require('chalk')
-const prism = require('prismjs')
+import chalk from 'chalk'
+import escapeHtml from 'escape-html'
+import prism from 'prismjs'
+
+// prism is listed as actual dep so it's ok to require
 const loadLanguages = require('prismjs/components/index')
-const escapeHtml = require('escape-html')
 
 // required to make embedded highlighting work...
 loadLanguages(['markup', 'css', 'javascript'])
diff --git a/src/node/markdown/plugins/slugify.ts b/src/node/markdown/plugins/slugify.ts
index 6d365155..5039c209 100644
--- a/src/node/markdown/plugins/slugify.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdown/plugins/slugify.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // string.js slugify drops non ascii chars so we have to
 // use a custom implementation here
-const removeDiacritics = require('diacritics').remove
+import { remove as removeDiacritics } from 'diacritics'
 // eslint-disable-next-line no-control-regex
 const rControl = /[\u0000-\u001f]/g
 const rSpecial = /[\s~`!@#$%^&*()\-_+=[\]{}|\\;:"'<>,.?/]+/g
diff --git a/src/node/markdownToVue.ts b/src/node/markdownToVue.ts
index 280d4b47..3de71570 100644
--- a/src/node/markdownToVue.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdownToVue.ts
@@ -7,8 +7,9 @@ import { deeplyParseHeader } from './utils/parseHeader'
 import { PageData, HeadConfig } from './shared'
 import { slash } from './utils/slash'
 import chalk from 'chalk'
+import _debug from 'debug'
 
-const debug = require('debug')('vitepress:md')
+const debug = _debug('vitepress:md')
 const cache = new LRUCache<string, MarkdownCompileResult>({ max: 1024 })
 const includesRE = /<!--\s*@include:\s*(.*?)\s*-->/g
 
diff --git a/src/node/serve/serve.ts b/src/node/serve/serve.ts
index 8f5cb6cb..81b57c3a 100644
--- a/src/node/serve/serve.ts
+++ b/src/node/serve/serve.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import sirv from 'sirv'
 import compression from 'compression'
 import { resolveConfig } from '../config'
+import polka from 'polka'
 
 export interface ServeOptions {
   root?: string
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ export async function serve(options: ServeOptions = {}) {
     }
   })
 
-  require('polka')()
+  polka()
     .use(compress, serve)
     .listen(port, (err: any) => {
       if (err) throw err
diff --git a/src/node/shims.d.ts b/src/node/shims.d.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..097e3cc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/node/shims.d.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+declare module 'markdown-it-attrs' {
+  const def: any
+  export default def
+}
+
+declare module 'markdown-it-emoji' {
+  const def: any
+  export default def
+}
+
+declare module 'markdown-it-table-of-contents' {
+  const def: any
+  export default def
+}
+
+declare module 'markdown-it-container' {
+  const def: any
+  export default def
+}
+
+declare module 'escape-html' {
+  const def: (str: string) => string
+  export default def
+}
+
+declare module 'prismjs' {
+  const def: any
+  export default def
+}
+
+declare module 'prismjs/components/index' {
+  const def: any
+  export default def
+}
+
+declare module 'diacritics' {
+  export const remove: (str: string) => string
+}
+
+declare module '*.json' {
+  const def: any
+  export default def
+}
diff --git a/src/node/utils/parseHeader.ts b/src/node/utils/parseHeader.ts
index 7d5624e6..9fe05184 100644
--- a/src/node/utils/parseHeader.ts
+++ b/src/node/utils/parseHeader.ts
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@
 // loader, the raw HTML in headers will finally be parsed by Vue-loader.
 // so that we can write HTML/Vue in the header. One exception is the HTML
 // wrapped by <code>(markdown token: '`') tag.
+import emojiData from 'markdown-it-emoji/lib/data/full.json'
 
 const parseEmojis = (str: string) => {
-  const emojiData = require('markdown-it-emoji/lib/data/full.json')
   return String(str).replace(
     /:(.+?):/g,
     (placeholder, key) => emojiData[key] || placeholder
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 4b5509c0..c0571e48 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -908,6 +908,13 @@
     "@types/keygrip" "*"
     "@types/node" "*"
 
+"@types/debug@^4.1.7":
+  version "4.1.7"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/debug/-/debug-4.1.7.tgz#7cc0ea761509124709b8b2d1090d8f6c17aadb82"
+  integrity sha512-9AonUzyTjXXhEOa0DnqpzZi6VHlqKMswga9EXjpXnnqxwLtdvPPtlO8evrI5D9S6asFRCQ6v+wpiUKbw+vKqyg==
+  dependencies:
+    "@types/ms" "*"
+
 "@types/estree@*":
   version "0.0.50"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/estree/-/estree-0.0.50.tgz#1e0caa9364d3fccd2931c3ed96fdbeaa5d4cca83"
@@ -918,7 +925,7 @@
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/estree/-/estree-0.0.39.tgz#e177e699ee1b8c22d23174caaa7422644389509f"
   integrity sha512-EYNwp3bU+98cpU4lAWYYL7Zz+2gryWH1qbdDTidVd6hkiR6weksdbMadyXKXNPEkQFhXM+hVO9ZygomHXp+AIw==
 
-"@types/express-serve-static-core@^4.17.18":
+"@types/express-serve-static-core@*", "@types/express-serve-static-core@^4.17.18":
   version "4.17.24"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/express-serve-static-core/-/express-serve-static-core-4.17.24.tgz#ea41f93bf7e0d59cd5a76665068ed6aab6815c07"
   integrity sha512-3UJuW+Qxhzwjq3xhwXm2onQcFHn76frIYVbTu+kn24LFxI+dEhdfISDFovPB8VpEgW8oQCTpRuCe+0zJxB7NEA==
@@ -1063,6 +1070,11 @@
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/minimist/-/minimist-1.2.2.tgz#ee771e2ba4b3dc5b372935d549fd9617bf345b8c"
   integrity sha512-jhuKLIRrhvCPLqwPcx6INqmKeiA5EWrsCOPhrlFSrbrmU4ZMPjj5Ul/oLCMDO98XRUIwVm78xICz4EPCektzeQ==
 
+"@types/ms@*":
+  version "0.7.31"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/ms/-/ms-0.7.31.tgz#31b7ca6407128a3d2bbc27fe2d21b345397f6197"
+  integrity sha512-iiUgKzV9AuaEkZqkOLDIvlQiL6ltuZd9tGcW3gwpnX8JbuiuhFlEGmmFXEXkN50Cvq7Os88IY2v0dkDqXYWVgA==
+
 "@types/node@*":
   version "16.6.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/node/-/node-16.6.2.tgz#331b7b9f8621c638284787c5559423822fdffc50"
@@ -1088,6 +1100,16 @@
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/parse-json/-/parse-json-4.0.0.tgz#2f8bb441434d163b35fb8ffdccd7138927ffb8c0"
   integrity sha512-//oorEZjL6sbPcKUaCdIGlIUeH26mgzimjBB77G6XRgnDl/L5wOnpyBGRe/Mmf5CVW3PwEBE1NjiMZ/ssFh4wA==
 
+"@types/polka@^0.5.3":
+  version "0.5.3"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/polka/-/polka-0.5.3.tgz#c2f76b9a5b7d5f5a9771320cc6164bde10c07819"
+  integrity sha512-Myj8ztBAH63xXhff5OMGiHIj37O4RG7GTDmFL/Amb05BAdG8IYFC90vp9IpdN7hjpZ5tkepsSvQkPvWwB8IRwQ==
+  dependencies:
+    "@types/express" "*"
+    "@types/express-serve-static-core" "*"
+    "@types/node" "*"
+    "@types/trouter" "*"
+
 "@types/postcss-load-config@^3.0.1":
   version "3.0.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/postcss-load-config/-/postcss-load-config-3.0.1.tgz#457c8b55b3271e11aa1c27baf5e58419e1a9ab9a"
@@ -1130,6 +1152,11 @@
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/stack-utils/-/stack-utils-2.0.1.tgz#20f18294f797f2209b5f65c8e3b5c8e8261d127c"
   integrity sha512-Hl219/BT5fLAaz6NDkSuhzasy49dwQS/DSdu4MdggFB8zcXv7vflBI3xp7FEmkmdDkBUI2bPUNeMttp2knYdxw==
 
+"@types/trouter@*":
+  version "3.1.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/trouter/-/trouter-3.1.0.tgz#8a3c7b34352b1cb454217a194e8bf03e5cdf7cc4"
+  integrity sha512-4LPNrqSJknLzILMVXn2P/mh0djNgFvom4T9Y1hmhaB8OBm1cY71bMMSrGRu1q5qF4JZzY6iaGT11BHmCMY/NZg==
+
 "@types/yargs-parser@*":
   version "20.2.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/yargs-parser/-/yargs-parser-20.2.1.tgz#3b9ce2489919d9e4fea439b76916abc34b2df129"