webpack.md

Webpack

Configuration

Webpacker gives you a default set of configuration files for test, development and production environments in config/webpack/*.js. You can configure each individual environment in their respective files or configure them all in the base config/webpack/environment.js file.

By default, you shouldn't have to make any changes to config/webpack/*.js files since it's all standard production-ready configuration. However, if you do need to customize or add a new loader, this is where you would go.

Here is how you can modify webpack configuration:

// config/webpack/custom.js
module.exports = {
  resolve: {
    alias: {
      jquery: 'jquery/src/jquery',
      vue: 'vue/dist/vue.js',
      React: 'react',
      ReactDOM: 'react-dom',
      vue_resource: 'vue-resource/dist/vue-resource',
    }
  }
}

// config/webpack/development.js
const merge = require('webpack-merge')
const environment = require('./environment')
const customConfig = require('./custom')

module.exports = merge(environment.toWebpackConfig(), customConfig)

Note: You will have to merge custom config to all env where you want that config to be available. In above case, it will be applied to development environment.

Loaders

You can add additional loaders beyond the base set that webpacker provides by adding it to your environment. We'll use json-loader as an example:

yarn add json-loader

// config/webpack/environment.js
const { environment } = require('@rails/webpacker')

environment.loaders.set('json', {
  test: /\.json$/,
  use: 'json-loader'
})

module.exports = environment

Finally add .json to the list of extensions in config/webpacker.yml. Now if you import() any .json files inside your javascript they will be processed using json-loader. Voila!

You can also modify the loaders that webpacker pre-configures for you. We'll update the babel loader as an example:

// config/webpack/environment.js
const { environment } = require('@rails/webpacker')

// Update an option directly
const babelLoader = environment.loaders.get('babel')
babelLoader.options.cacheDirectory = false

module.exports = environment

Plugins

The process for adding or modifying webpack plugins is the same as the process for loaders above:

// config/webpack/environment.js
const { environment } = require('@rails/webpacker')
const webpack = require('webpack')

// Get a pre-configured plugin
environment.plugins.get('ExtractText') // Is an ExtractTextPlugin instance

// Add an additional plugin of your choosing : ProvidePlugin
environment.plugins.set(
  'Provide',
  new webpack.ProvidePlugin({
    $: 'jquery',
    jQuery: 'jquery',
    jquery: 'jquery',
    'window.Tether': 'tether',
    Popper: ['popper.js', 'default'],
    ActionCable: 'actioncable',
    Vue: 'vue',
    VueResource: 'vue-resource',
  })
)

module.exports = environment

Add common chunks

The CommonsChunkPlugin is an opt-in feature that creates a separate file (known as a chunk), consisting of common modules shared between multiple entry points. By separating common modules from bundles, the resulting chunked file can be loaded once initially, and stored in the cache for later use. This results in page speed optimizations as the browser can quickly serve the shared code from the cache, rather than being forced to load a larger bundle whenever a new page is visited.

Add the plugins in config/webpack/environment.js:

const webpack = require('webpack')

environment.plugins.set(
  'CommonsChunkVendor',
  new webpack.optimize.CommonsChunkPlugin({
    name: 'vendor',
    minChunks: (module) => {
      // this assumes your vendor imports exist in the node_modules directory
      return module.context && module.context.indexOf('node_modules') !== -1;
    }
  })
)

environment.plugins.set(
  'CommonsChunkManifest',
  new webpack.optimize.CommonsChunkPlugin({
    name: 'manifest',
    minChunks: Infinity
  })
)

Now, add these files to your layouts/application.html.erb:

<%# Head %>

<%= javascript_pack_tag "manifest" %>
<%= javascript_pack_tag "vendor" %>

<%# If importing any styles from node_modules in your JS app %>

<%= stylesheet_pack_tag "vendor" %>

More detailed guides available here: Webpack guides