Advanced Webpack Config

Version: 4.1
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Advanced Webpack Config

Encore generates the Webpack configuration that's used in your webpack.config.js file. Encore doesn't support adding all of Webpack's configuration options, because many can be easily added on your own.

For example, suppose you need to set Webpack's watchOptions setting. To do that, modify the config after fetching it from Encore:

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// webpack.config.js

var Encore = require('@symfony/webpack-encore');

// ... all Encore config here

// fetch the config, then modify it!
var config = Encore.getWebpackConfig();
// if you run 'encore dev --watch'
config.watchOptions = { poll: true, ignored: /node_modules/ };
// if you run 'encore dev-server'
config.devServer.watchOptions = { poll: true, ignored: /node_modules/ };

// other examples: add an alias or extension
// config.resolve.alias.local = path.resolve(__dirname, './resources/src');
// config.resolve.extensions.push('json');

// export the final config
module.exports = config;

But be careful not to accidentally override any config from Encore:

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// webpack.config.js
// ...

// GOOD - this modifies the config.resolve.extensions array
config.resolve.extensions.push('json');

// BAD - this replaces any extensions added by Encore
// config.resolve.extensions = ['json'];

Defining Multiple Webpack Configurations

Webpack supports passing an array of configurations, which are processed in parallel. Webpack Encore includes a reset() object allowing to reset the state of the current configuration to build a new one:

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// define the first configuration
Encore
    .setOutputPath('public/build/')
    .setPublicPath('/build')
    .addEntry('app', './assets/js/app.js')
    .addStyleEntry('global', './assets/css/global.scss')
    .enableSassLoader()
    .autoProvidejQuery()
    .enableSourceMaps(!Encore.isProduction())
;

// build the first configuration
const firstConfig = Encore.getWebpackConfig();

// Set a unique name for the config (needed later!)
firstConfig.name = 'firstConfig';

// reset Encore to build the second config
Encore.reset();

// define the second configuration
Encore
    .setOutputPath('public/build/')
    .setPublicPath('/build')
    .addEntry('mobile', './assets/js/mobile.js')
    .addStyleEntry('mobile', './assets/css/mobile.less')
    .enableLessLoader()
    .enableSourceMaps(!Encore.isProduction())
;

// build the second configuration
const secondConfig = Encore.getWebpackConfig();

// Set a unique name for the config (needed later!)
secondConfig.name = 'secondConfig';

// export the final configuration as an array of multiple configurations
module.exports = [firstConfig, secondConfig];

When running Encore, both configurations will be built in parallel. If you prefer to build configs separately, pass the --config-name option:

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$ yarn encore dev --config-name firstConfig

Generating a Webpack Configuration Object without using the Command-Line Interface

Ordinarily you would use your webpack.config.js file by calling Encore from the command-line interface. But sometimes, having access to the generated Webpack configuration can be required by tools that don't use Encore (for instance a test-runner such as Karma).

The problem is that if you try generating that Webpack configuration object without using the encore command you will encounter the following error:

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Error: Encore.setOutputPath() cannot be called yet because the runtime environment doesn't appear to be configured. Make sure you're using the encore executable or call Encore.configureRuntimeEnvironment() first if you're purposely not calling Encore directly.

The reason behind that message is that Encore needs to know a few thing before being able to create a configuration object, the most important one being what the target environment is.

To solve this issue you can use configureRuntimeEnvironment. This method must be called from a JavaScript file before requiring webpack.config.js.

For instance:

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const Encore = require('@symfony/webpack-encore');

// Set the runtime environment
Encore.configureRuntimeEnvironment('dev');

// Retrieve the Webpack configuration object
const webpackConfig = require('./webpack.config');

If needed, you can also pass to that method all the options that you would normally use from the command-line interface:

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Encore.configureRuntimeEnvironment('dev-server', {
    // Same options you would use with the
    // CLI utility, with their name in camelCase.
    https: true,
    keepPublicPath: true,
});
This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.