webpack-dev-middleware

What is webpack-dev-middleware?

webpack-dev-middleware is a package that provides a simple way to serve and live reload webpack bundles for development purposes. It's designed to be used with a Node.js server, such as Express, and it allows developers to serve the webpack-generated files without writing them to disk, providing a faster development experience.

What are webpack-dev-middleware's main functionalities?

Serving Webpack Bundles

This code sample demonstrates how to set up webpack-dev-middleware with an Express server. It serves the files generated by webpack based on the provided configuration.

const express = require('express');
const webpack = require('webpack');
const webpackDevMiddleware = require('webpack-dev-middleware');
const config = require('./webpack.config.js');
const compiler = webpack(config);

const app = express();

app.use(webpackDevMiddleware(compiler, {
  publicPath: config.output.publicPath
}));

app.listen(3000, function () {
  console.log('Example app listening on port 3000!\n');
});

Enabling Hot Module Replacement (HMR)

This code sample shows how to enable Hot Module Replacement (HMR) in conjunction with webpack-dev-middleware. It requires an additional package, webpack-hot-middleware, to work.

const webpackHotMiddleware = require('webpack-hot-middleware');

app.use(webpackDevMiddleware(compiler, {
  publicPath: config.output.publicPath
}));

app.use(webpackHotMiddleware(compiler));

Other packages similar to webpack-dev-middleware

browser-sync

BrowserSync is a package that allows for live reloading of web pages as files are edited and saved. It can be integrated with webpack using browser-sync-webpack-plugin. Unlike webpack-dev-middleware, BrowserSync is focused on synchronizing interactions across multiple devices/browsers during testing.

serve

Serve is a static file serving and directory listing package that can be used for quick prototyping and local development. It does not have built-in webpack integration or HMR, but it's a simple alternative for serving static files.

webpack-hot-server-middleware

webpack-hot-server-middleware is similar to webpack-dev-middleware but is specifically designed for use with server-side rendering in Node.js applications. It works in tandem with webpack-dev-middleware and webpack-hot-middleware to enable HMR for server-rendered apps.

webpack-serve

webpack-serve is a now-deprecated package that was once an alternative to webpack-dev-middleware. It provided a development server that used webpack's watch mode to observe file changes and recompile automatically. It has since been replaced by webpack-dev-server, which offers similar functionality.

README

webpack Dev Middleware

It's a simple wrapper middleware for webpack. It serves the files emitted from webpack over a connect server. This should be used for development only.

It has a few advantages over bundling it as files:

• No files are written to disk, it handle the files in memory
• If files changed in watch mode, the middleware no longer serves the old bundle, but delays requests until the compiling has finished. You don't have to wait before refreshing the page after a file modification.
• I may add some specific optimization in future releases.

Install

npm install webpack-dev-middleware --save-dev

Usage

var webpackMiddleware = require("webpack-dev-middleware");
app.use(webpackMiddleware(...));

Example usage:

app.use(webpackMiddleware(webpack({
	// webpack options
	// webpackMiddleware takes a Compiler object as first parameter
	// which is returned by webpack(...) without callback.
	entry: "...",
	output: {
		path: "/"
		// no real path is required, just pass "/"
		// but it will work with other paths too.
	}
}), {
	// publicPath is required, whereas all other options are optional

	noInfo: false,
	// display no info to console (only warnings and errors)

	quiet: false,
	// display nothing to the console

	lazy: true,
	// switch into lazy mode
	// that means no watching, but recompilation on every request

	watchOptions: {
		aggregateTimeout: 300,
		poll: true
	},
	// watch options (only lazy: false)

	publicPath: "/assets/",
	// public path to bind the middleware to
	// use the same as in webpack
	
	index: "index.html",
	// the index path for web server

	headers: { "X-Custom-Header": "yes" },
	// custom headers

	stats: {
		colors: true
	},
	// options for formating the statistics

	reporter: null,
	// Provide a custom reporter to change the way how logs are shown.

	serverSideRender: false,
	// Turn off the server-side rendering mode. See Server-Side Rendering part for more info.
}));

Advanced API

This part shows how you might interact with the middleware during runtime:

• close(callback) - stop watching for file changes

  var webpackDevMiddlewareInstance = webpackMiddleware(/* see example usage */);
  app.use(webpackDevMiddlewareInstance);
  // After 10 seconds stop watching for file changes:
  setTimeout(function(){
    webpackDevMiddlewareInstance.close();
  }, 10000);
  

• invalidate() - recompile the bundle - e.g. after you changed the configuration

  var compiler = webpack(/* see example usage */);
  var webpackDevMiddlewareInstance = webpackMiddleware(compiler);
  app.use(webpackDevMiddlewareInstance);
  setTimeout(function(){
    // After a short delay the configuration is changed
    // in this example we will just add a banner plugin:
    compiler.apply(new webpack.BannerPlugin('A new banner'));
    // Recompile the bundle with the banner plugin:
    webpackDevMiddlewareInstance.invalidate();
  }, 1000);
  

• waitUntilValid(callback) - executes the callback if the bundle is valid or after it is valid again:

  var webpackDevMiddlewareInstance = webpackMiddleware(/* see example usage */);
  app.use(webpackDevMiddlewareInstance);
  webpackDevMiddlewareInstance.waitUntilValid(function(){
    console.log('Package is in a valid state');
  });
  

Server-Side Rendering

Note: this feature is experimental and may be removed or changed completely in the future.

In order to develop a server-side rendering application, we need access to the stats, which is generated with the latest build.

In the server-side rendering mode, webpack-dev-middleware would sets the stat to res.locals.webpackStats before invoking the next middleware, where we can render pages and response to clients.

Notice that requests for bundle files would still be responded by webpack-dev-middleware and all requests will be pending until the building process is finished in the server-side rendering mode.

app.use(webpackMiddleware(compiler, { serverSideRender: true })

// The following middleware would not be invoked until the latest build is finished.
app.use((req, res) => {
  const assetsByChunkName = res.locals.webpackStats.toJson().assetsByChunkName

  // then use `assetsByChunkName` for server-sider rendering
	// For example, if you have only one main chunk:

	res.send(`
<html>
  <head>
    <title>My App</title>
		${
			assetsByChunkName.main
			.filter(path => path.endsWith('.css'))
			.map(path => `<link rel="stylesheet" href="${path}" />`)
		}
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="root"></div>
		${
			assetsByChunkName.main
			.filter(path => path.endsWith('.js'))
			.map(path => `<script src="${path}" />`)
		}
  </body>
</html>		
	`)

})

Contributing

Don't hesitate to create a pull request. Every contribution is appreciated. In development you can start the tests by calling npm test.

Maintainers

Kees Kluskens

LICENSE

MIT