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⚠️ This article was written in 2020. Some content may be outdated.

Rollup Library Bundling Best Practices

In day-to-day development, Rollup library-bundling best practices are being adopted more and more often. This article systematically covers their usage, the underlying principles, and optimization strategies.

Quick Start ​

Building on this, we can optimize further:

javascript
module.exports = {
  entry: './src/index.js',
  output: { path: __dirname + '/dist', filename: '[name].[contenthash:8].js' },
  module: {
    rules: [
      { test: /\.jsx?$/, exclude: /node_modules/, use: 'babel-loader' },
      { test: /\.css$/, use: ['style-loader', 'css-loader', 'postcss-loader'] }
    ]
  },
  optimization: {
    splitChunks: {
      chunks: 'all',
      cacheGroups: {
        vendor: { test: /[\\/]node_modules[\\/]/, name: 'vendors' }
      }
    }
  }
}

This pattern is very practical in large projects and can significantly reduce maintenance cost.

Internal Principles ​

In real projects, the actual usage tends to be a bit more involved:

javascript
import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import vue from '@vitejs/plugin-vue'
import { resolve } from 'path'

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [vue()],
  resolve: { alias: { '@': resolve(__dirname, 'src') } },
  server: {
    port: 3000,
    proxy: { '/api': { target: 'http://localhost:8080', changeOrigin: true } }
  },
  build: {
    rollupOptions: {
      output: {
        manualChunks: {
          vendor: ['vue', 'vue-router', 'vuex'],
          utils: ['lodash-es', 'dayjs']
        }
      }
    }
  }
})

This approach improves both the testability and the extensibility of the code.

Business Practice ​

Here is a complete example:

javascript
module.exports = {
  entry: './src/index.js',
  output: { path: __dirname + '/dist', filename: '[name].[contenthash:8].js' },
  module: {
    rules: [
      { test: /\.jsx?$/, exclude: /node_modules/, use: 'babel-loader' },
      { test: /\.css$/, use: ['style-loader', 'css-loader', 'postcss-loader'] }
    ]
  },
  optimization: {
    splitChunks: {
      chunks: 'all',
      cacheGroups: {
        vendor: { test: /[\\/]node_modules[\\/]/, name: 'vendors' }
      }
    }
  }
}

Pay close attention to edge-case handling—this is critical in production.

Performance Comparison ​

The key is understanding the core logic:

javascript
import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import vue from '@vitejs/plugin-vue'
import { resolve } from 'path'

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [vue()],
  resolve: { alias: { '@': resolve(__dirname, 'src') } },
  server: {
    port: 3000,
    proxy: { '/api': { target: 'http://localhost:8080', changeOrigin: true } }
  },
  build: {
    rollupOptions: {
      output: {
        manualChunks: {
          vendor: ['vue', 'vue-router', 'vuex'],
          utils: ['lodash-es', 'dayjs']
        }
      }
    }
  }
})

Performance optimization needs to fit the actual use case; not every situation calls for over-optimization.

Troubleshooting ​

We can improve on this in the following ways:

javascript
module.exports = {
  entry: './src/index.js',
  output: { path: __dirname + '/dist', filename: '[name].[contenthash:8].js' },
  module: {
    rules: [
      { test: /\.jsx?$/, exclude: /node_modules/, use: 'babel-loader' },
      { test: /\.css$/, use: ['style-loader', 'css-loader', 'postcss-loader'] }
    ]
  },
  optimization: {
    splitChunks: {
      chunks: 'all',
      cacheGroups: {
        vendor: { test: /[\\/]node_modules[\\/]/, name: 'vendors' }
      }
    }
  }
}

This approach has been running stably in production for over half a year and has proven itself in practice.

Summary ​

  • Don't adopt new technology just for its own sake.
  • The code examples are for reference only and should be adapted to your specific use case.
  • Rollup library-bundling best practices aren't a silver bullet; choose them based on your project's scale and tech stack.
  • Understanding the underlying principles matters more than memorizing the API.

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