In this blog post, we'll cover everything you need to know to set up a React app that's ready for deployment.
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/shivam-pawar/sample-react-app
Prerequisites
Before we begin, make sure you have Node.js and npm (or yarn) installed on your machine.
Initialize a new project
Use your Command Line and navigate to the root folder of your project and enter
npm init
This will ask you some basic information like package name, author name, description, and license. With this info it will create a file called package.json
Install React and TypeScript
- Install React and ReactDOM as dependencies:
npm install react react-dom
- Install TypeScript and its types as dev dependencies:
npm install --save-dev typescript @types/react @types/react-dom
Set up Webpack
Install the necessary Webpack dependencies:
npm install --save-dev webpack webpack-cli webpack-dev-server html-webpack-plugin webpack-merge ts-loader terser-webpack-plugin uglify-js
Your package.json will look like this:
-
Create a webpack folder at root/project level and inside that add these 3 config files.
- webpack.common.js
- webpack.config.js
- webpack.dev.js
- webpack.prod.js
-
Create a src folder at root/project level and inside that add these 2 files.
- index.tsx
- index.html
Copy paste below code in index.tsx
import React from "react";
import { createRoot } from "react-dom/client";
const App = () => {
return <div>Hello, React!</div>;
};
const rootElement = document.getElementById("root") as Element;
const root = createRoot(rootElement);
root.render(<App />);
- Copy paste below code in index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>My React App</title>
</head>
<body>
<div id="root"></div>
</body>
</html>
Now lets update the webpack config files.
- webpack.common.js
const path = require("path");
const HtmlWebpackPlugin = require("html-webpack-plugin");
module.exports = {
entry: path.resolve(__dirname, "..", "./src/index.tsx"),
output: {
path: path.resolve(__dirname, "..", "dist"),
filename: "bundle.js",
},
resolve: {
extensions: [".ts", ".tsx", ".js"],
},
module: {
rules: [
{
test: /\.(ts|js)x?$/,
use: "ts-loader",
exclude: /node_modules/,
},
],
},
plugins: [
new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
template: path.resolve(__dirname, "..", "./src/index.html"),
}),
],
devServer: {
static: "./dist",
},
};
- webpack.config.js
const { merge } = require("webpack-merge");
const commonConfig = require("./webpack.common");
module.exports = (envVars) => {
const { env } = envVars;
const envConfig = require(`./webpack.${env}.js`);
const config = merge(commonConfig, envConfig);
return config;
};
- webpack.dev.js
const webpack = require("webpack");
module.exports = {
mode: "development",
devtool: "cheap-module-source-map",
devServer: {
hot: true,
open: true,
},
plugins: [
new webpack.DefinePlugin({
"process.env.name": JSON.stringify("development"),
}),
],
};
- webpack.prod.js
const webpack = require("webpack");
const TerserPlugin = require("terser-webpack-plugin");
module.exports = {
mode: "production",
devtool: false,
plugins: [
new webpack.DefinePlugin({
"process.env.name": JSON.stringify("production"),
}),
],
optimization: {
minimize: true,
minimizer: [
new TerserPlugin({
minify: TerserPlugin.uglifyJsMinify,
extractComments: true,
parallel: true,
test: /\.(ts|js)x?$/,
terserOptions: {
compress: {
drop_console: true,
},
output: {
comments: false,
},
},
}),
],
},
};
- Update/replace the scripts section in your package.json file:
"scripts": {
"start": "webpack serve --config webpack/webpack.config.js --env env=dev",
"build": "webpack --config webpack/webpack.config.js --env env=prod"
}
Setup TypeScript
At root/project level add tsconfig.json file and paste below config in it.
{
"compilerOptions": {
"target": "ES6",
"lib": [
"DOM",
"ESNext"
],
"jsx": "react-jsx",
"module": "ESNext",
"moduleResolution": "Node",
"types": ["react", "react-dom", "@types/react", "@types/react-dom"],
"resolveJsonModule": true,
"isolatedModules": true,
"esModuleInterop": true,
"forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
"strict": true,
"skipLibCheck": true
}
}
Now your project folder and file structure will look like this:
Run the development server
In terminal/command prompt run below command to run your development server:
npm start
Your React app should now be running at http://localhost:8080.
Set up ESLint and Prettier
- Install ESLint, Prettier, and the necessary plugins:
npm install --save-dev eslint eslint-config-prettier eslint-plugin-prettier @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin @typescript-eslint/parser eslint-plugin-react
- Create an .eslintrc.json file in the root of your project with the following configuration:
{
"env": {
"browser": true,
"es2021": true
},
"extends": [
"eslint:recommended",
"plugin:react/recommended",
"plugin:@typescript-eslint/recommended",
"prettier"
],
"parser": "@typescript-eslint/parser",
"parserOptions": {
"ecmaFeatures": {
"jsx": true
},
"ecmaVersion": 12,
"sourceType": "module"
},
"plugins": [
"react",
"@typescript-eslint",
"prettier"
],
"rules": {
"prettier/prettier": "error"
}
}
- Create a .prettierrc file in the root of your project with the following configuration:
{
"semi": true,
"trailingComma": "all",
"singleQuote": false,
"printWidth": 100,
"tabWidth": 2
}
- Update the scripts section in your package.json file:
"scripts": {
"start": "webpack serve --config webpack/webpack.config.js --env env=dev",
"build": "webpack --config webpack/webpack.config.js --env env=prod",
"lint": "eslint . --ext .ts,.tsx --fix"
}
- Run ESLint to check for any linting issues:
npm run lint
Your final package.json will look like this:
Your final folder structure will look like this:
Conclusion
By following this guide, you now have a production-ready React application setup with Webpack, TypeScript, ESLint and Prettier. This setup provides a solid foundation for building scalable and maintainable React applications with best practices in place.
Remember to keep your dependencies up-to-date and continue learning about these tools to optimize your development workflow further.
Happy coding!ā¤ļø
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Read more articles on Dev.To ā”ļø Shivam Pawar
Top comments (27)
That's a great step by step guide to get kick start project.
I would add little more details such as adding anchor links to the docs for terms like webpack, ESLint, and Prettier.
Furthermore, also write an additional notes if there is still a better way to achieve similar goal.
Finally, an effective article that helps to dive inn!
Thanks @tarunchakravarthy for the feedback!
Great sharing,But why not just choose a mature scheme like vite?
Thanks, webpack is highly configurable thatās why it is used in large enterprise applications
So is vite. Vite has loads of options and builds on top of esbuild and rollup. Webpack is requires alot of configuration to do simple stuff.
This is a great template for the newbies starting using react. Great job.
Antonio, CEO at Litlyx
Thanks @litlyx
Your code may work well, but I do not know much about most of the packages, especially their configuration. However, you must describe the packages and their working in the end so interested users can read them.
thanks but why this when I can do it with vite
@xoulrage If you need extensive customization and full control over the bundling process, Webpack's rich plugin ecosystem and configuration options may be more suitable.
For larger codebases with a very large number of files (500+), Webpack may be able to compile the bundle faster than Vite, especially when using newer features like lazy compilation.
That statement is just false. We converted large solutions from webpack to Vite. Vite is faster in both development mode (20x faster) and 2-3x for production build
please fix tsconfig.js => tsconfig.json
Thanks @viet_ho_398865447b7b14af8 for pointing out this mistake. I updated it.
webpack.prod.js is equal to webpack.dev.js. Wasn't production supposed to be more optimized?
Thanks @lucianodecezare for identifying my mistake. I accidentally pasted same config as dev. Updated webpack.prod.js with more configuration.
Or:
npm create vite@latest my-react-app -- --template react-tsWhat advantages of this setup instead of Vite?
Webpack is mainly known / used for large applications bundling with highly configurable things. Vite is emerging to be a better tool but still donāt provide much flexibility. If you want minimum and quick configuration for your app then definitely Vite is a better choice.
same question. @shivampawar
Why is this approach better than using preexisting bundlers like vite?
@sunilkhadka001 If you need extensive customization and full control over the bundling process, Webpack's rich plugin ecosystem and configuration options may be more suitable.
For larger codebases with a very large number of files (500+), Webpack may be able to compile the bundle faster than Vite, especially when using newer features like lazy compilation.
I have not seen any such benchmark where vite performs worse than webpack, whats your source for this claim?
github.com/farm-fe/performance-com... this open source benchmark indicates a huge performance difference between vite and webpack and even the authors of webpack itself have indicated there is no future for webpack because it cannot do what modern bundlers can...
Vite also has a much better plugin ecosystem than webpack...
This article is especially written for webpack config for react app.
Source from where I got info:
betterprogramming.pub/is-vite-real...
In this article you can see another benchmark also where they compared with large files also.
Btw, Iām not against Vite. Keep this article specific to webpack only. This article is not for comparison between Vite and Webpack.
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