Nx with Webpack

The Nx plugin for webpack brings smart task running and caching to a Webpack monorepo.

Webpack is a static module bundler for modern JavaScript applications. The @nx/webpack plugin provides executors that allow you to build and serve your projects using webpack, plus an executor for SSR.

You can customize your webpack configuration for your projects. Nx also provides a number of webpack plugins for supporting Nx and other frameworks.

Requirements

The @nx/webpack plugin supports the following package versions.

Package	Supported Versions
webpack	^5.0.0
webpack-dev-server	^5.0.0
webpack-cli	^5.0.0 || ^6.0.0 || ^7.0.0

Nx generators install the latest supported versions automatically when scaffolding new projects.

Setting up a new Nx workspace with Webpack

You can create a new workspace that uses Webpack with one of the following commands:

• Generate a new standalone React app set up with Webpack

npx create-nx-workspace@latest --preset=react-standalone --bundler=webpack

• Generate a new React monorepo set up with Webpack

npx create-nx-workspace@latest --preset=react-monorepo --bundler=webpack

Installation

Keep Nx Package Versions In Sync

Make sure to install the @nx/webpack version that matches the version of nx in your repository. If the version numbers get out of sync, you can encounter some difficult to debug errors. You can fix Nx version mismatches with this recipe.

In any Nx workspace, you can install @nx/webpack by running the following command:

nx add @nx/webpack

This will install the correct version of @nx/webpack.

How @nx/webpack infers tasks

The @nx/webpack plugin will create a task for any project that has a Webpack configuration file present. Any of the following files will be recognized as a Webpack configuration file:

• webpack.config.js
• webpack.config.ts
• webpack.config.mjs
• webpack.config.cjs

The configuration directory must also contain a package.json or project.json.

View inferred tasks

To view inferred tasks for a project, open the project details view in Nx Console or run nx show project my-project --web in the command line.

@nx/webpack configuration

The @nx/webpack/plugin is configured in the plugins array in nx.json.

nx.json

{
  "plugins": [
    {
      "plugin": "@nx/webpack/plugin",
      "options": {
        "buildTargetName": "build",
        "previewTargetName": "preview",
        "serveTargetName": "serve",
        "serveStaticTargetName": "serve-static",
        "buildDepsTargetName": "build-deps",
        "watchDepsTargetName": "watch-deps"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Option	Default	Inferred behavior
buildTargetName	build	Runs and caches webpack-cli build with its configured outputs.
serveTargetName	serve	Runs webpack-cli serve continuously in development mode.
previewTargetName	preview	Runs webpack-cli serve continuously in production mode.
serveStaticTargetName	serve-static	Serves the build output continuously after the build task.
buildDepsTargetName	build-deps	Name of the dependency build task.
watchDepsTargetName	watch-deps	Name of the dependency watch task.

The build task depends on builds of project dependencies. When TypeScript project references are enabled, the tasks also run the TypeScript sync generator.

Use include and exclude glob patterns on the plugin entry to scope inference. A target defaults plugin filter must use the exact identifier @nx/webpack/plugin.

Generate a new project using Webpack

You can generate a React application or a Web application that uses Webpack in an existing Nx workspace. The @nx/react:app, @nx/node:app and @nx/web:app generators accept the bundler option, where you can pass webpack. This will generate a new application configured to use Webpack, and it will also install all the necessary dependencies, including the @nx/webpack plugin.

To generate a React application using Webpack, run the following:

nx g @nx/react:app apps/my-app --bundler=webpack

To generate a Node application using Webpack, run the following:

nx g @nx/node:app apps/my-app --bundler=webpack

To generate a Web application using Webpack, run the following:

nx g @nx/web:app apps/my-app --bundler=webpack

Set up CI for your Webpack monorepo

In CI, Nx runs nx affected to rebuild and retest only the projects a change touches, and caches results to skip repeated work.

For a complete pipeline, see Set up CI.