requirefrom

requireFrom

Require from a directory relative to node_modules, flattening your require paths. Using requireFrom you won't have to manage complex relative paths between each component of your node app.

Alternatively check out wavy or link-local if symlinks might be a better solution for your project.

Code Example

Simple usage anywhere in your node app:

    let lib = require('requirefrom')('lib');
    let myModule = lib('myModule');

For more complex usage, let's assume this example directory structure:

node_modules/
lib/
  components/
    framework/
      views/
        login.js
        signup.js
      models/
        user/
          index.js
  utlity/
    normalize/
      user.js
package.json

Any file in this project could then include these files with the following code:

let requireFrom = require('requirefrom');
let views = requireFrom('lib/components/framework/views/');
let models = requireFrom('lib/components/framework/models/');
let utility = requireFrom('lib/utility/');

let loginForm = views('login.js');
let signupForm = views('signup.js');

let userModel = models('user');

let normalizeUser = utility('normalize/user.js');

Without requireFrom, each file would need to maintain paths relative each other file, for example:

let loginForm = require('../../framework/views/login.js');
let signupForm = require('../../framework/views/signup.js');

let userModel = require('../../framework/models/user');

let normalizeUser = require('../../../utlity/normalize/user.js');

Motivation

There hasn't been a conlusive method to prevent relative path complexity. You can read about them here. Each method either pollutes global, damages portablity of your app, or might confuse someone unfamiliar with your technique. I hadn't seen anyone considering requireFrom's method of using a dependency to find the relative path of your project.

Installation

Install using npm. Add "requirefrom" to your dependencies in package.json before running npm install, or do that automatically with npm install --save requirefrom.