@storybook/core-webpack

What is @storybook/core-webpack?

The @storybook/core-webpack package is a part of the Storybook ecosystem, specifically designed to customize and extend Storybook's Webpack configurations. It allows developers to modify the default Webpack configuration used by Storybook to better suit their project's needs, including adding loaders, plugins, and modifying existing configurations. This package is essential for projects that require a high degree of customization for their Storybook setup, enabling seamless integration with a wide range of web development tools and workflows.

What are @storybook/core-webpack's main functionalities?

Customizing Webpack Config

This feature allows developers to customize the Webpack configuration used by Storybook. The code sample demonstrates how to merge a custom Webpack configuration with Storybook's default configuration, specifically adding support for SCSS files.

const { merge } = require('webpack-merge');
module.exports = ({ config }) => {
  return merge(config, {
    // Custom Webpack configuration
    module: {
      rules: [{ test: /\.scss$/, use: ['style-loader', 'css-loader', 'sass-loader'] }]
    }
  });
};

Adding Webpack Plugins

Developers can extend Storybook's Webpack configuration by adding additional Webpack plugins. The code sample shows how to add a custom plugin to the configuration.

const SomeWebpackPlugin = require('some-webpack-plugin');
module.exports = ({ config }) => {
  config.plugins.push(new SomeWebpackPlugin());
  return config;
};

Modifying Existing Loaders

This functionality allows for the modification of existing loaders in the Webpack configuration. The code sample illustrates how to find and modify a specific loader to add an additional 'some-loader' for handling files.

module.exports = ({ config }) => {
  const rules = config.module.rules;
  const someRuleIndex = rules.findIndex(rule => rule.test.toString() === '/\.somefile$/');
  if (someRuleIndex !== -1) {
    rules[someRuleIndex].use.push('some-loader');
  }
  return config;
};

Other packages similar to @storybook/core-webpack

webpack-merge

While not a Storybook-specific package, webpack-merge is often used in conjunction with @storybook/core-webpack for merging custom Webpack configurations with Storybook's default. It provides a streamlined way to combine configurations, which is essential for complex setups.

customize-cra

customize-cra is designed for overriding Create React App's Webpack configurations without 'ejecting'. It offers a similar value proposition to @storybook/core-webpack but is specifically tailored for CRA projects. Unlike @storybook/core-webpack, it doesn't directly integrate with Storybook but demonstrates the demand for customization in tooling environments.

README

Storybook Core-Common

Common utilities used across @storybook/core-server (manager UI configuration) and @storybook/builder-webpack{4,5} (preview configuration).

This is a lot of code extracted for convenience, not because it made sense.

Supporting multiple version of webpack and this duplicating a large portion of code that was never meant to be generic caused this.

At some point we'll refactor this, it's likely a lot of this code is dead or barely used.