@babel/plugin-external-helpers

What is @babel/plugin-external-helpers?

@babel/plugin-external-helpers is a Babel plugin that allows you to use Babel's helper functions from an external source rather than including them in every file. This can help reduce the overall bundle size by avoiding duplication of helper functions across multiple files.

What are @babel/plugin-external-helpers's main functionalities?

Externalizing Babel Helpers

This configuration in your Babel setup will enable the use of external helpers. Instead of including Babel's helper functions in every file, they will be imported from an external source, reducing redundancy and potentially decreasing the bundle size.

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    '@babel/plugin-external-helpers'
  ]
};

Using with a Custom Helper Library

You can specify a custom version of the helper library to use. This is useful if you have a specific version of Babel's helpers that you want to ensure compatibility with.

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    ['@babel/plugin-external-helpers', {
      helperVersion: '7.0.0'
    }]
  ]
};

Other packages similar to @babel/plugin-external-helpers

babel-plugin-transform-runtime

babel-plugin-transform-runtime is another Babel plugin that helps to avoid duplication of helper functions by using a runtime library. Unlike @babel/plugin-external-helpers, which relies on externalizing helpers, transform-runtime uses a runtime library to achieve similar goals, often leading to smaller bundle sizes and avoiding polluting the global scope.

babel-plugin-external-helpers-2

babel-plugin-external-helpers-2 is a fork of @babel/plugin-external-helpers with additional features and improvements. It aims to provide more flexibility and better performance compared to the original plugin.

README

@babel/plugin-external-helpers

This plugin contains helper functions that’ll be placed at the top of the generated code

See our website @babel/plugin-external-helpers for more information.

Install

Using npm:

npm install --save-dev @babel/plugin-external-helpers

or using yarn:

yarn add @babel/plugin-external-helpers --dev

Changelog

v7.25.9 (2024-10-22)

:bug: Bug Fix

• babel-parser, babel-template, babel-types
  • #16905 fix: Keep type annotations in syntacticPlaceholders mode (@liuxingbaoyu)
• babel-helper-compilation-targets, babel-preset-env
  • #16907 fix: support BROWSERSLIST{,_CONFIG} env (@JLHwung)
• Other
  • #16884 Analyze ClassAccessorProperty to prevent the no-undef rule (@victorenator)

:house: Internal

• babel-helper-transform-fixture-test-runner
  • #16914 remove test options flaky (@JLHwung)

:running_woman: Performance

• babel-parser, babel-types
  • #16918 perf: Make VISITOR_KEYS etc. faster to access (@liuxingbaoyu)