expose-loader

What is expose-loader?

The expose-loader npm package allows you to expose modules to the global object, making them accessible as global variables. This can be particularly useful when you need to integrate with legacy code that expects certain libraries to be globally available.

What are expose-loader's main functionalities?

Expose a module to the global object

This feature allows you to expose the jQuery library to the global object, making it accessible as both `$` and `jQuery`. This is useful for legacy scripts that rely on jQuery being globally available.

module.exports = {
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: require.resolve('jquery'),
        use: [{
          loader: 'expose-loader',
          options: {
            exposes: ['$', 'jQuery'],
          },
        }],
      },
    ],
  },
};

Expose multiple modules

This feature demonstrates how to expose multiple modules, in this case, lodash and axios, to the global object. Lodash is exposed as `_` and axios as `axios`.

module.exports = {
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: require.resolve('lodash'),
        use: [{
          loader: 'expose-loader',
          options: {
            exposes: '_',
          },
        }],
      },
      {
        test: require.resolve('axios'),
        use: [{
          loader: 'expose-loader',
          options: {
            exposes: 'axios',
          },
        }],
      },
    ],
  },
};

Other packages similar to expose-loader

script-loader

The script-loader package allows you to add a script tag to the HTML that includes the module, making it globally available. Unlike expose-loader, which directly exposes the module to the global object, script-loader injects the script into the HTML, which can be useful for loading external scripts.

imports-loader

The imports-loader package allows you to inject variables into the scope of a module. While expose-loader makes a module globally available, imports-loader is useful for injecting dependencies into a module's scope, which can be useful for polyfills or shimming.

README

expose-loader

The expose-loader loader allows to expose a module (in whole or in part) to global object (self, window and global).

For further hints on compatibility issues, check out Shimming of the official docs.

Getting Started

To begin, you'll need to install expose-loader:

npm install expose-loader --save-dev

or

yarn add -D expose-loader

or

pnpm add -D expose-loader

(If you're using WebPack 4, install expose-loader@1 and follow the corresponding instructions instead.)

Then you can use the expose-loader using two approaches.

Inline

The | or %20 (space) allow to separate the globalName, moduleLocalName and override of expose. The documentation and syntax examples can be read here.

[!WARNING]

%20 is space in a query string, because you can't use spaces in URLs

import $ from "expose-loader?exposes=$,jQuery!jquery";
//
// Adds the `jquery` to the global object under the names `$` and `jQuery`

import { concat } from "expose-loader?exposes=_.concat!lodash/concat";
//
// Adds the `lodash/concat` to the global object under the name `_.concat`

import {
  map,
  reduce,
} from "expose-loader?exposes=_.map|map,_.reduce|reduce!underscore";
//
// Adds the `map` and `reduce` method from `underscore` to the global object under the name `_.map` and `_.reduce`

Using Configuration

src/index.js

import $ from "jquery";

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: require.resolve("jquery"),
        loader: "expose-loader",
        options: {
          exposes: ["$", "jQuery"],
        },
      },
      {
        test: require.resolve("underscore"),
        loader: "expose-loader",
        options: {
          exposes: [
            "_.map|map",
            {
              globalName: "_.reduce",
              moduleLocalName: "reduce",
            },
            {
              globalName: ["_", "filter"],
              moduleLocalName: "filter",
            },
          ],
        },
      },
    ],
  },
};

The require.resolve call is a Node.js function (unrelated to require.resolve in webpack processing). require.resolve gives you the absolute path to the module ("/.../app/node_modules/jquery/dist/jquery.js"). So the expose only applies to the jquery module. And it's only exposed when used in the bundle.

And run webpack via your preferred method.

Options

Name	Type	Default	Description
exposes	{String|Object|Array<String|Object>}	undefined	List of exposes
globalObject	String	undefined	Object used for global context

exposes

Type:

type exposes =
  | string
  | {
      globalName: string | Array<string>;
      moduleLocalName?: string;
      override?: boolean;
    }
  | Array<
      | string
      | {
          globalName: string | Array<string>;
          moduleLocalName?: string;
          override?: boolean;
        }
    >;

Default: undefined

List of exposes.

string

Allows to use a string to describe an expose.

syntax

The | or %20 (space) allow to separate the globalName, moduleLocalName and override of expose.

String syntax - [[globalName] [moduleLocalName] [override]] or [[globalName]|[moduleLocalName]|[override]], where:

• globalName - the name in the global object, for example window.$ for a browser environment (required)
• moduleLocalName - the name of method/variable/etc of the module (the module must export it) (may be omitted)
• override - allows to override existing value in the global object (may be omitted)

If moduleLocalName is not specified, it exposes the entire module to the global object, otherwise it exposes only the value of moduleLocalName.

src/index.js

import $ from "jquery";
import _ from "underscore";

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: require.resolve("jquery"),
        loader: "expose-loader",
        options: {
          // For `underscore` library, it can be `_.map map` or `_.map|map`
          exposes: "$",
          // To access please use `window.$` or `globalThis.$`
        },
      },
      {
        // test: require.resolve("jquery"),
        test: /node_modules[/\\]underscore[/\\]modules[/\\]index-all\.js$/,
        loader: "expose-loader",
        type: "javascript/auto",
        options: {
          // For `underscore` library, it can be `_.map map` or `_.map|map`
          exposes: "_",
          // To access please use `window._` or `globalThis._`
        },
      },
    ],
  },
};

object

Allows to use an object to describe an expose.

globalName

Type:

type globalName = string | Array<string>;

Default: undefined

The name in the global object. (required).

src/index.js

import _ from "underscore";

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /node_modules[/\\]underscore[/\\]modules[/\\]index-all\.js$/,
        loader: "expose-loader",
        type: "javascript/auto",
        options: {
          exposes: {
            // Can be `['_', 'filter']`
            globalName: "_.filter",
            moduleLocalName: "filter",
          },
        },
      },
    ],
  },
};

moduleLocalName

Type:

type moduleLocalName = string;

Default: undefined

The name of method/variable/etc of the module (the module must export it). If moduleLocalName is specified, it exposes only the value of moduleLocalName.

src/index.js

import _ from "underscore";

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /node_modules[/\\]underscore[/\\]modules[/\\]index-all\.js$/,
        loader: "expose-loader",
        type: "javascript/auto",
        options: {
          exposes: {
            globalName: "_.filter",
            moduleLocalName: "filter",
          },
        },
      },
    ],
  },
};

override

Type:

type override = boolean;

Default: false

By default, loader does not override the existing value in the global object, because it is unsafe. In development mode, we throw an error if the value already present in the global object. But you can configure loader to override the existing value in the global object using this option.

To force override the value that is already present in the global object you can set the override option to the true value.

src/index.js

import $ from "jquery";

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: require.resolve("jquery"),
        loader: "expose-loader",
        options: {
          exposes: {
            globalName: "$",
            override: true,
          },
        },
      },
    ],
  },
};

array

src/index.js

import _ from "underscore";

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /node_modules[/\\]underscore[/\\]modules[/\\]index-all\.js$/,
        loader: "expose-loader",
        type: "javascript/auto",
        options: {
          exposes: [
            "_.map map",
            {
              globalName: "_.filter",
              moduleLocalName: "filter",
            },
            {
              globalName: ["_", "find"],
              moduleLocalName: "myNameForFind",
            },
          ],
        },
      },
    ],
  },
};

It will expose only map, filter and find (under myNameForFind name) methods to the global object.

In a browser these methods will be available under windows._.map(..args), windows._.filter(...args) and windows._.myNameForFind(...args) methods.

globalObject

type globalObject = string;

Default: undefined

Object used for global context

import _ from "underscore";

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /node_modules[/\\]underscore[/\\]modules[/\\]index-all\.js$/,
        loader: "expose-loader",
        type: "javascript/auto",
        options: {
          exposes: [
            {
              globalName: "_",
            },
          ],
          globalObject: "this",
        },
      },
    ],
  },
};

Examples

Expose a local module

index.js

import { method1 } from "./my-module.js";

my-module.js

function method1() {
  console.log("method1");
}

function method2() {
  console.log("method1");
}

export { method1, method2 };

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /my-module\.js$/,
        loader: "expose-loader",
        options: {
          exposes: "mod",
          // // To access please use `window.mod` or `globalThis.mod`
        },
      },
    ],
  },
};

Contributing

Please take a moment to read our contributing guidelines if you haven't yet done so.

CONTRIBUTING

License

MIT

Changelog

5.0.1 (2025-02-07)

Bug Fixes

• add missing return statement (#244) (bc741a0)