webpack

When to use this skill

Use this skill whenever the user wants to:

• Bundle JavaScript, CSS, and assets with Webpack loaders and plugins
• Configure multi-entry points, code splitting, caching, and optimization
• Set up HMR with webpack-dev-server for development
• Optimize production builds with tree shaking and minification

How to use this skill

Workflow

1. Configure — define entry, output, loaders, and plugins in webpack.config.js
2. Develop — run dev server with HMR for fast iteration
3. Build — run production build with optimizations
4. Analyze — inspect bundle size with webpack-bundle-analyzer

Quick Start Example

// webpack.config.js
const path = require('path');
const HtmlWebpackPlugin = require('html-webpack-plugin');
const MiniCssExtractPlugin = require('mini-css-extract-plugin');

module.exports = (env, argv) => {
  const isProd = argv.mode === 'production';

  return {
    entry: './src/index.js',
    output: {
      path: path.resolve(__dirname, 'dist'),
      filename: isProd ? '[name].[contenthash].js' : '[name].js',
      clean: true,
    },
    module: {
      rules: [
        {
          test: /\.jsx?$/,
          exclude: /node_modules/,
          use: 'babel-loader',
        },
        {
          test: /\.css$/,
          use: [
            isProd ? MiniCssExtractPlugin.loader : 'style-loader',
            'css-loader',
          ],
        },
        {
          test: /\.(png|svg|jpg|gif)$/,
          type: 'asset/resource',
        },
      ],
    },
    plugins: [
      new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
        template: './src/index.html',
      }),
      ...(isProd ? [new MiniCssExtractPlugin({
        filename: '[name].[contenthash].css',
      })] : []),
    ],
    optimization: {
      splitChunks: {
        chunks: 'all', // Extract vendor code into separate chunk
      },
    },
    devServer: {
      hot: true,
      port: 3000,
    },
    devtool: isProd ? 'source-map' : 'eval-source-map',
  };
};

# Development with HMR
npx webpack serve --mode development

# Production build
npx webpack --mode production

# Analyze bundle
npx webpack --mode production --analyze

Code Splitting Example

// Lazy load a route/component
const loadDashboard = () => import(
  /* webpackChunkName: "dashboard" */
  './pages/Dashboard'
);

Best Practices

• Order loaders correctly (right-to-left execution); use exclude: /node_modules/ for Babel
• Enable splitChunks for vendor code extraction and tree shaking in production mode
• Use content hashing ([contenthash]) for long-term caching
• For new projects, consider Vite or Rspack for faster build times
• Use webpack-bundle-analyzer to identify oversized chunks

Reference

• Official documentation: https://webpack.js.org/

Keywords

webpack, bundler, loader, plugin, code splitting, HMR, tree-shaking, optimization, build tool