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Neutrino Preact Preset¶

@neutrinojs/preact is a Neutrino preset that supports building Preact web applications.

Features¶

Zero upfront configuration necessary to start developing and building a Preact web app
Modern Babel compilation adding JSX, object rest spread syntax, and class properties.
Write JSX in .js or .jsx files
Compatibility and pre-configured aliasing for React-based modules and packages
Extends from @neutrinojs/web
Modern Babel compilation supporting ES modules, last 2 major browser versions, async functions, and dynamic imports
webpack loaders for importing HTML, CSS, images, icons, fonts, and web workers
webpack Dev Server during development
Automatic creation of HTML pages, no templating necessary
Automatic stylesheet extraction; importing stylesheets into modules creates bundled external stylesheets
Pre-configured to support CSS Modules via *.module.css file extensions
Hot Module Replacement support including CSS
Tree-shaking to create smaller bundles
Production-optimized bundles with minification, easy chunking, and scope-hoisted modules for faster execution
Easily extensible to customize your project as needed

Requirements¶

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

Installation¶

@neutrinojs/preact can be installed via the Yarn or npm clients. Inside your project, make sure neutrino and @neutrinojs/preact are development dependencies. You will also need preact for actual Preact development.

Yarn¶

❯ yarn add --dev neutrino @neutrinojs/preact
❯ yarn add preact

npm¶

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

If you want to import React-based modules or packages, you should also install the preact-compat compatibility layer:

Yarn¶

❯ yarn add preact-compat

npm¶

❯ npm install --save preact-compat

Project Layout¶

@neutrinojs/preact follows the standard project layout specified by Neutrino. This means that by default all project source code should live in a directory named src in the root of the project. This includes JavaScript files, CSS stylesheets, images, and any other assets that would be available to import 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 Preact 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

This Preact preset exposes an element in the page with an ID of root to which you can mount your application. Edit your src/index.js file with the following:

import { render } from 'preact';

render(<h1>Hello world!</h1>, document.getElementById('root'));

Now edit your project's package.json to add commands for starting and building the application:

{
  "scripts": {
    "start": "neutrino start --use @neutrinojs/preact",
    "build": "neutrino build --use @neutrinojs/preact"
  }
}

If you are using .neutrinorc.js, add this preset to your use array instead of --use flags:

module.exports = {
  use: ['@neutrinojs/preact']
};

Start the app, then open a browser to the address in the console:

Yarn¶

❯ yarn start
✔ Development server running on: http://localhost:5000
✔ Build completed

npm¶

❯ npm start
✔ Development server running on: http://localhost:5000
✔ Build completed

Building¶

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

❯ yarn build

✔ Building project completed
Hash: b26ff013b5a2d5f7b824
Version: webpack 3.5.6
Time: 9773ms
                           Asset       Size    Chunks             Chunk Names
   index.dfbad882ab3d86bfd747.js     181 kB     index  [emitted]  index
 runtime.3d9f9d2453f192a2b10f.js    1.51 kB   runtime  [emitted]  runtime
                      index.html  846 bytes            [emitted]
✨  Done in 4.62s.

You can either serve or deploy the contents of this build directory as a static site.

Static assets¶

If you wish to copy files to the build directory that are not imported from application code, use the @neutrinojs/copy preset alongside this one.

Paths¶

The @neutrinojs/preact preset loads assets relative to the path of your application by setting webpack's output.publicPath to ./. If you wish to load assets instead from a CDN, or if you wish to change to an absolute path for your application, customize your build to override output.publicPath. See the Customizing section below.

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 Preact 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 Preact preset and override its options. See the Web documentation for specific options you can override with this object.

module.exports = {
  use: [
    ['@neutrinojs/preact', {
      /* preset options */

      // Example: disable Hot Module Replacement
      hot: false,

      // Example: change the page title
      html: {
        title: 'Epic Preact App'
      },

      // Target specific browsers with @babel/preset-env
      targets: {
        browsers: [
          'last 1 Chrome versions',
          'last 1 Firefox versions'
        ]
      },

      // Add additional Babel plugins, presets, or env options
      babel: {
        // Override options for @babel/preset-env:
        presets: [
          ['@babel/preset-env', {
            modules: false,
            useBuiltIns: true,
          }]
        ]
      }
    }]
  ]
};

Customizing¶

To override the build configuration, start with the documentation on customization. @neutrinojs/preact does not use any additional named rules, loaders, or plugins that aren't already in use by the Web preset. See the Web documentation customization for preset-specific configuration to override.

Advanced configuration¶

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

Vendoring¶

External dependencies are automatically split into separate chunks from the application code, by the new webpack SplitChunksPlugin.

Example: The splitChunks settings can be adjusted like so:

module.exports = {
  use: [
    '@neutrinojs/preact',
    (neutrino) => {
      neutrino.config
        .optimization
          .merge({
            splitChunks: {
              // Decrease the minimum size before extra chunks are created, to 10KB
              minSize: 10000
            }
          });
    }
  ]
};

Hot Module Replacement¶

While @neutrinojs/preact supports Hot Module Replacement, it does require some application-specific changes in order to operate.

Perform the application render in a reusable function for initial load and subsequent reloads.
Add the hot acceptance to call this function.

For example:

import { render } from 'preact';
import App from './App';

let mount;
const root = document.getElementById('root');
const load = (App) => {
  mount = render(<App />, root, mount);
};

if (module.hot) {
  module.hot.accept('./App', () => requestAnimationFrame(() => {
    load(require('./App').default);
  ));
}

load(App);

Preact Devtools¶

To use the React Devtools for your Preact project, require the preact devtools during the development environment within your main entry file (typically src/index):

if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') {
  require('preact/devtools');
}

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.