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Neutrino Library Preset¶

@neutrinojs/library is a Neutrino preset that supports creating JS libraries for Web or Node.js targets.

Features¶

Zero upfront configuration necessary to start developing and building a JavaScript library
Modern Babel compilation supporting ES modules, async functions, and dynamic imports
Compiles to ES5 to support major browsers, publishing to npm, and library interoperability
Defaults to UMD-based output for consumption in a variety of environments
Supports automatically-wired sourcemaps
Tree-shaking to create smaller bundles
Automatically marks dependencies as external
Easily extensible to customize your library as needed

Requirements¶

Node.js v8.3+
Yarn v1.2.1+, or npm v5.4+
Neutrino v8

Installation¶

@neutrinojs/library can be installed via the Yarn or npm clients. Inside your project, make sure neutrino and @neutrinojs/library are development dependencies.

Yarn¶

❯ yarn add --dev neutrino @neutrinojs/library

npm¶

❯ npm install --save-dev neutrino @neutrinojs/library

If you want to have automatically wired sourcemaps added to your project, add source-map-support:

Yarn¶

❯ yarn add source-map-support

npm¶

❯ npm install --save source-map-support

Project Layout¶

@neutrinojs/library follows the standard project layout specified by Neutrino. This means that by default all library source code should live in a directory named src in the root of the project. This includes JavaScript files that would be available to your compiled project.

Quickstart¶

The fastest way to get started is by using the create-project scaffolding tool. Don’t want to use the CLI helper? No worries, we have you covered with the manual installation.

create-project¶

Run the following command to start the process. Substitute <directory-name> with the directory name you wish to create for this project.

Yarn¶

❯ yarn create @neutrinojs/project <directory-name>

Note: The create command is a shorthand that helps you do two things at once. See the Yarn create docs for more details.

npm/npx¶

npx comes pre-installed with npm. If you’re running an older version of npm, then npm install -g npm to update to the latest version.

❯ npx @neutrinojs/create-project <directory-name>

The CLI helper will prompt for the project to scaffold, and will offer to set up a test runner as well as linting to your project. Refer to the Create new project section for details on all available options.

Manual Installation¶

After installing Neutrino and the Library preset, add a new directory named src in the root of the project, with a single JS file named index.js in it.

❯ mkdir src && touch src/index.js

Edit your src/index.js file with the following:

// Create a simple logger library that only logs when
// debug mode is enabled, and logs to the appropriate level
export default class Logger {
  constructor(level, debug = true) {
    this.level = level;
    this.debug = debug;
  }

  log(...args) {
    if (this.debug) {
      console[level](...args);
    }
  }
}

Now edit your project's package.json to add commands for building the library.

{
  "name": "super-logger",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "neutrino build"
  }
}

When using this library, you must use a .neutrinorc.js file in your project to specify the library name. Add this preset to your use array and define the name option:

module.exports = {
  use: [
    ['@neutrinojs/library', { name: 'Logger' }]
  ]
};

You can now build your library!

Yarn¶

❯ yarn build

npm¶

❯ npm start

Building¶

@neutrinojs/library builds assets to the build directory by default when running neutrino build. Using the quick start example above as a reference:

❯ yarn build

Build completed in 0.419s

Hash: 89e4fb250fc535920ba4
Version: webpack 3.8.1
Time: 424ms
       Asset     Size  Chunks             Chunk Names
    Logger.js  4.29 kB       0  [emitted]  index
Logger.js.map  3.73 kB       0  [emitted]  index
✨  Done in 1.51s.

You should specify a main property in your package.json pointing to your primary built main entry point. Also when publishing your project to npm, consider excluding your src directory by using the files property to whitelist build, or via .npmignore to blacklist src.

{
  "name": "super-logger",
  "main": "build/index.js",
  "files": [
    "build"
  ]
}

Your built library can now be consumed with ES imports, CJS require, AMD require, or even script tags:

// ES imports
import Logger from 'super-logger';

// CJS require
const Logger = require('super-logger');

// AMD require
require(['super-logger'], (Logger) => {
  // ...
});

<!-- script tags -->
<script src="/path/to/super-logger"></script>

<!--
  once published to npm, you can even use a script tag
  to point to unpkg
-->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/super-logger"></script>

Preset options¶

You can provide custom options and have them merged with this preset's default options to easily affect how this preset builds. You can modify Library preset settings from .neutrinorc.js by overriding with an options object. Use an array pair instead of a string to supply these options in .neutrinorc.js.

The following shows how you can pass an options object to the Library preset and override its options, showing the defaults where applicable:

module.exports = {
  use: [
    ['@neutrinojs/library', {
      // REQUIRED. Sets the name of the library, along with its
      // output filename.
      name: '<YOUR_LIBRARY_NAME>',

      // Compile the library for use in a specific environment.
      // Defaults to 'web', but can be switched to 'node' as well
      target: 'web',

      // Configure how the library will be exposed. Keeping this set
      // to 'umd' ensures compatibility with a large number of module
      // systems, but you can override if you want to produce a smaller
      // bundle targeted to specific module systems like 'commonjs2' (CJS).
      libraryTarget: 'umd',

      // Override options passed to webpack-node-externals,
      // such as whitelisting dependencies for bundling.
      externals: {},

      // Remove the contents of the output directory prior to building.
      // Set to false to disable cleaning this directory
      clean: {
        paths: [neutrino.options.output]
      },

      // Add additional Babel plugins, presets, or env options
      babel: {
        // Override options for @babel/preset-env
        presets: [
          ['@babel/preset-env', {
            // Passing in browser targets to @babel/preset-env will replace them
            // instead of merging them when using the 'web' target
            targets: { browsers: 'ie 9' }
          }]
        ]
      }
    }]
  ]
};

Example: Override the library Babel compilation target to Node.js v6 and commonjs2 module:

module.exports = {
  use: [
    ['@neutrinojs/library', {
      name: 'Logger',
      target: 'node',
      libraryTarget: 'commonjs2',
      // Add additional Babel plugins, presets, or env options
      babel: {
        // Override options for @babel/preset-env
        presets: [
          ['@babel/preset-env', {
            targets: {
              node: '6.0'
            }
          }]
        ]
      }
    }]
  ]
};

Customizing¶

To override the build configuration, start with the documentation on customization. @neutrinojs/library creates some conventions to make overriding the configuration easier once you are ready to make changes.

By default Neutrino, and therefore this preset, creates a single main index entry point to your library, and this maps to the index.* file in the src directory. This means that this preset is optimized toward a single main entry to your library. Code not imported in the hierarchy of the index entry will not be output to the bundle. To overcome this you must either define more mains via options.mains, import the code path somewhere along the index hierarchy, or define multiple configurations in your .neutrinorc.js.

External dependencies¶

This preset automatically marks all dependencies as external to your library, meaning that any dependencies you import will not be bundled with your library. This helps prevent your library from bloating, but means users of your library will be installing or using your dependencies as defined in package.json. You can override this in the library preset options by passing further options to the externals property. This accepts an options object format defined by webpack-node-externals, to which you can provide a whitelist value.

The whitelist will override which dependencies are bundled in your library. Any dependency not matched by this whitelist is considered a peer of your library, and will not be bundled.

Example: The following example library redux-example has the following package.json, marking redux and mitt as dependencies, but only lists mitt in whitelist. This bundles mitt along with the library, so the library consumer does not need to explicitly import/require/script it prior. The redux dependency is not in the whitelist, so it will not be bundled, and is considered a peer of redux-example.

{
  "name": "redux-example",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "main": "build/reduxExample.js",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "neutrino build"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "mitt": "*",
    "redux": "*"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "neutrino": "*",
    "@neutrinojs/library": "*"
  }
}

module.exports = {
  use: [
    ['@neutrinojs/library', {
      name: 'reduxExample',
      externals: {
        whitelist: ['mitt']
      }
    }]
  ]
};

// ES imports
import { createStore } from 'redux';
import reduxExample from 'redux-example';

// CJS require
const { createStore } = require('redux');
const reduxExample = require('redux-example');

// AMD require
require(['redux', 'redux-example'], ({ createStore }, reduxExample) => {
  // ...
});

<!-- script tags -->
<script src="/path/to/redux"></script>
<script src="/path/to/redux-example"></script>
<script>
  const { createStore } = window.redux;
  window.reduxExample // ...
</script>

<!--
  once published to npm, you can even use a script tag
  to point to unpkg
-->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/redux"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/redux-example"></script>
<script>
  const { createStore } = window.redux;
  window.reduxExample // ...
</script>

Generating multiple builds¶

The @neutrinojs/library middleware can be used in conjunction with the @neutrinojs/fork middleware to generate multiple library outputs when building. Follow the instructions to install the fork middleware, and change your .neutrinorc.js format as follows:

const name = 'Logger';

module.exports = {
  use: [
    (neutrino) => {
      neutrino.on('prebuild', () => neutrino.use('@neutrinojs/clean'));
    },
    ['@neutrinojs/fork', {
      configs: {
        // Create a named entry for each build type.
        // You will most likely want to disable cleaning
        // the output directory until prior to building
        umd: ['@neutrinojs/library', { name, clean: false }],
        commonjs2: ['@neutrinojs/library', { name, clean: false }]
      }
    }]
  ]
};

Rules¶

The following is a list of rules and their identifiers which can be overridden:

Name	Description	Environments and Commands
`compile`	Compiles JS files from the `src` directory using Babel. Contains a single loader named `babel`	all
`worker`	Allows importing Web Workers automatically with `.worker.*` extensions. Contains a single loader named `worker`.	all

Plugins¶

The following is a list of plugins and their identifiers which can be overridden:

Note: Some plugins are only available in certain environments. To override them, they should be modified conditionally.

Name	Description	Environments and Commands
`banner`	Injects source-map-support into the main entry points of your application if detected in `dependencies` or `devDependencies` of your package.json.	Only when `source-map-support` is installed
`clean`	Clears the contents of `build` prior to creating a production bundle.	`build` command

Override configuration¶

By following the customization guide and knowing the rule, loader, and plugin IDs above, you can override and augment the build by by providing a function to your .neutrinorc.js use array. You can also make these changes from the Neutrino API in custom middleware.

Example: Allow importing modules with a .esm extension.

module.exports = {
  use: [
    ['@neutrinojs/library', { /* ... */ }],
    (neutrino) => {
      neutrino.config.resolve.extensions.add('.esm')
    }
  ]
};

Contributing¶

This preset is part of the neutrino-dev repository, a monorepo containing all resources for developing Neutrino and its core presets and middleware. Follow the contributing guide for details.