Webpack
Last modified: 04 May 2023Required plugins:
JavaScript and TypeScript, Webpack - The plugins are bundled with JetBrains Rider and enabled by default.
JetBrains Rider integrates with the webpack module bundler. This support improves coding assistance in JavaScript files by taking into account webpack module resolution and resolve aliases.
In projects that consist of multiple modules with different webpack configurations, JetBrains Rider can automatically detect the relevant configuration file for each module and use the module resolution rules from it, see Specifying the webpack configuration file to use below.
For webpack version 2 and later, JetBrains Rider provides code completion and quick documentation look-up for options in webpack configuration files.
Before you start
Download and install Node.js.
Make sure the JavaScript and TypeScript plugin is enabled in the settings. Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select Plugins. Click the Installed tab. In the search field, type JavaScript and TypeScript. For more details about plugins, see Managing plugins.
Install and enable the Webpack plugin on the Settings/Preferences | Plugins page, tab Marketplace, as described in Installing plugins from JetBrains repository.
Configuring webpack in JetBrains Rider
Add webpack to your package.json
Make sure webpack is listed in the
dependenciesordevDependenciesobject of your package.json.If webpack is missing, open the embedded Terminal (Ctrl+`) and type:
npm install --save-dev webpack
Create webpack configuration files
Create one or several configuration files depending on your project structure: select a parent folder in the Project tool window and select New | JavaScript file from the context menu. Learn more from the webpack official website.
Specify the webpack configuration files to use
Based on the analysis of a webpack configuration file, JetBrains Rider understands the webpack configuration, resolves modules, and provides coding assistance in JavaScript files, see Resolving modules below.
In JetBrains Rider, you can choose between two configuration modes - automatic and manual.
With automatic configuration, JetBrains Rider auto-detects the relevant webpack configuration file for each JavaScript file.
With manual configuration, you specify the webpack configuration file to use in your project. Manual configuration is useful if the name of your webpack configuration file is not recognized by JetBrains Rider, see the list of recognized webpack config names below.
Choose how to detect webpack configuration
Open the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S) and go to Languages & Frameworks | JavaScript | Webpack.
In the Detect Webpack configuration files for module resolution area, select one of the following options:
Automatically: In this mode, for a JavaScript file, JetBrains Rider will first look for a webpack configuration file in the folder where this JavaScript file is located, then in its parent folder, and so on.
As a result, if your project consists of multiple modules with different webpack configurations, each module will use the module resolution rules from its own webpack configuration file (if such config is found).
JetBrains Rider recognizes JavaScript or TypeScript webpack configuration files with the following names and in the following order:
webpack.config.js / webpack.config.ts
webpack.base.conf.js / webpack.base.conf.ts
webpack.dev.conf.js / webpack.dev.conf.ts
webpack.prod.conf.js / webpack.prod.conf.ts
webpack.base.config.js / webpack.base.config.ts
webpack.dev.config.js / webpack.dev.config.ts
webpack.prod.config.js / webpack.prod.config.ts
webpack.babel.js / webpack.babel.ts
Manually: In the Configuration file field, specify the location of the webpack config to use.
In this mode, the resolution rules from the specified configuration file will be applied to all modules in your project.
Select this option if the name of your webpack configuration file is not recognized by JetBrains Rider, see the list of recognized webpack config names above.
See also Getting Started on the webpack official website.
Editing a webpack configuration file
For webpack version 2 and later, JetBrains Rider provides code completion and documentation look-up in the configuration object of webpack configuration files. Code completion is provided on the fly. To view documentation for a symbol, press Ctrl+K, I.
tip
JetBrains Rider provides coding assistance in a webpack configuration file only if its name contains the
webpackcharacter string and webpack is listed in package.json.
Resolving modules
When you open a project or edit a webpack configuration file (either auto-detected or specified on Settings/Preferences | Languages & Frameworks | JavaScript | Webpack), JetBrains Rider analyses the configuration in the background and, based on the received information, properly understands the project resolve roots and resolve aliases. Thanks to this understanding of the project configuration, JetBrains Rider provides more precise code completion for imports and exported symbols in JavaScript files. As a result, everything works fine without any steps from your side.
The image below illustrates module resolution in a project where react-color is an alias for the path '.react-color, provides navigation to it and completion for the exported symbols:
Debugging applications that use webpack
You can debug applications that use webpack same way as you debug any JavaScript client-side application, see Debugging React apps created with Create React App and Debugging Angular apps created with Angular CLI.