Javascript – Why does node thinks my mongodb model is a module?

I have a basic setup for a mern project with a UserModel in it.

import mongoose from "mongoose"

const UserSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
  name: String,
  email: String,
  password: String
})

const UserModel = mongoose.model('Users', UserSchema)

module.exports = UserModel

In my package.json I’ve added "type": "module",

I import the UserModel via import UserModel from './models/UserModel'

When I run nodemon I get this error:

node:internal/process/esm_loader:40
      internalBinding('errors').triggerUncaughtException(
                                ^

Error [ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND]: Cannot find module '/home/bian/Documents/WebDev/fullstack/demoapp/models/UserModel' imported from /home/bian/Documents/WebDev/fullstack/demoapp/App.js
Did you mean to import ../models/UserModel.js?
    at new NodeError (node:internal/errors:406:5)
    at finalizeResolution (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:233:11)
    at moduleResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:845:10)
    at defaultResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/resolve:1043:11)
    at ModuleLoader.defaultResolve (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:383:12)
    at ModuleLoader.resolve (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:352:25)
    at ModuleLoader.getModuleJob (node:internal/modules/esm/loader:228:38)
    at ModuleWrap.<anonymous> (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:85:39)
    at link (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:84:36) {
  url: 'file:///home/bian/Documents/WebDev/fullstack/demoapp/models/UserModel',
  code: 'ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND'
}

I’ve googled and tried to set the type to commonjs and imported via require but nothing works

Can anyone explain what is going on and/or how to fix it?