Rollup is a module bundler for JavaScript which compiles small pieces of code into something larger and more complex, such as a library or application. It uses the new standardized format for code modules included in the ES6 revision of JavaScript, instead of previous idiosyncratic solutions such as CommonJS and AMD. ES6 modules let you freely and seamlessly combine the most useful individual functions from your favorite libraries. This will eventually be possible natively, but Rollup lets you do it today.
Install with npm install --global rollup. Rollup can be used either through a command line interface with an optional configuration file, or else through its JavaScript API. Run rollup --help to see the available options and parameters.
See rollup-starter-lib and rollup-starter-app to see example library and application projects using Rollup
These commands assume the entry point to your application is named main.js, and that you'd like all imports compiled into a single file named bundle.js.
For browsers:
# compile to a <script> containing a self-executing function ('iife')
$ rollup main.js --o bundle.js --f iife
For Node.js:
# compile to a CommonJS module ('cjs')
$ rollup main.js --o bundle.js --f cjs
For both browsers and Node.js:
# UMD format requires a bundle name
$ rollup main.js --o bundle.js -f umd --name "myBundle"
Developing software is usually easier if you break your project into smaller separate pieces, since that often removes unexpected interactions and dramatically reduces the complexity of the problems you'll need to solve, and simply writing smaller projects in the first place isn't necessarily the answer. Unfortunately, JavaScript has not historically included this capability as a core feature in the language.
This finally changed with the ES6 revision of JavaScript, which includes a syntax for importing and exporting functions and data so they can be shared between separate scripts. The specification is now fixed, but it is not yet implemented in browsers or Node.js. Rollup allows you to write your code using the new module system, and will then compile it back down to existing supported formats such as CommonJS modules, AMD modules, and IIFE-style scripts. This means that you get to write future-proof code, and you also get the tremendous benefits of...
In addition to enabling the use of ES6 modules, Rollup also statically analyzes the code you are importing, and will exclude anything that isn't actually used. This allows you to build on top of existing tools and modules without adding extra dependencies or bloating the size of your project.
For example, with CommonJS, the entire tool or library must be imported.
// import the entire utils object with CommonJS
var utils = require( './utils' );
var query = 'Rollup';
// use the ajax method of the utils object
utils.ajax( 'https://api.example.com?search=' + query ).then( handleResponse );
But with ES6 modules, instead of importing the whole utils object, we can just import the one ajax function we need:
// import the ajax function with an ES6 import statement
import { ajax } from './utils';
var query = 'Rollup';
// call the ajax function
ajax( 'https://api.example.com?search=' + query ).then( handleResponse );
Because Rollup includes the bare minimum, it results in lighter, faster, and less complicated libraries and applications. Since this approach is based on explicit import and export statements, it is more effective than simply running an automated minifier to detect unused variables in the compiled output code.
Rollup can import existing CommonJS modules through a plugin.
To make sure your ES6 modules are immediately usable by tools that work with CommonJS such as Node.js and webpack, you can use Rollup to compile to UMD or CommonJS format, and then point to that compiled version with the main property in your package.json file. If your package.json file also has a module field, ES6-aware tools like Rollup and webpack 2 will import the ES6 module version directly.
ES modules are an official standard and the clear path forward for JavaScript code structure, whereas CommonJS modules are an idiosyncratic legacy format that served as a stopgap solution before ES modules had been proposed. ES modules allow static analysis that enables optimizations like tree-shaking, and provide advanced features like circular references and live bindings.
Tree-shaking, also known as "live code inclusion," is the process of eliminating code that is not actually used in a given project. It is similar to dead code elimination but can be much more efficient.
Rollup strives to implement the specification for ES modules, not necessarily the behaviors of Node.js, npm, require(), and CommonJS. Consequently, loading of CommonJS modules and use of Node's module location resolution logic are both implemented as optional plugins, not included by default in the Rollup core. Just npm install the CommonJS and node-resolve plugins and then enable them using a rollup.config.js file and you should be all set.
Rollup is already used by many major JavaScript libraries, and can also be used to build the vast majority of applications. However if you want to use code-splitting or dynamic imports with older browsers, you will need an additional runtime to handle loading missing chunks. We recommend using the SystemJS Production Build as it integrates nicely with Rollup's system format output and is capable of properly handling all the ES module live bindings and re-export edge cases. Alternatively, an AMD loader can be used as well.
Before we begin, you'll need to have Node.js installed so that you can use npm. You'll also need to know how to access the command line on your machine.
The easiest way to use Rollup is via the Command Line Interface (or CLI). For now, we'll install it globally (later on we'll learn how to install it locally to your project so that your build process is portable, but don't worry about that yet). Type this into the command line:
npm install rollup --global # or `npm i rollup -g` for short
You can now run the rollup command. Try it!
rollup
Because no arguments were passed, Rollup prints usage instructions. This is the same as running rollup --help, or rollup -h.
Let's create a simple project:
mkdir -p my-rollup-project/src
cd my-rollup-project
First, we need an entry point. Paste this into a new file called src/main.js:
// src/main.js
import foo from './foo.js';
export default function () {
console.log(foo);
}
Then, let's create the foo.js module that our entry point imports:
// src/foo.js
export default 'hello world!';
Now we're ready to create a bundle:
rollup src/main.js -f cjs
The -f option (short for --format) specifies what kind of bundle we're creating — in this case, CommonJS (which will run in Node.js). Because we didn't specify an output file, it will be printed straight to stdout:
'use strict';
var foo = 'hello world!';
var main = function () {
console.log(foo);
};
module.exports = main;
You can save the bundle as a file like so:
rollup src/main.js -o bundle.js -f cjs
(You could also do rollup src/main.js -f cjs > bundle.js, but as we'll see later, this is less flexible if you're generating sourcemaps.)
Try running the code:
node
> var myBundle = require('./bundle.js');
> myBundle();
'hello world!'
Congratulations! You've created your first bundle with Rollup.
So far, so good, but as we start adding more options it becomes a bit of a nuisance to type out the command.
To save repeating ourselves, we can create a config file containing all the options we need. A config file is written in JavaScript and is more flexible than the raw CLI.
Create a file in the project root called rollup.config.js, and add the following code:
// rollup.config.js
export default {
input: 'src/main.js',
output: {
file: 'bundle.js',
format: 'cjs'
}
};
To use the config file, we use the --config or -c flag:
rm bundle.js # so we can check the command works!
rollup -c
You can override any of the options in the config file with the equivalent command line options:
rollup -c -o bundle-2.js # `-o` is equivalent to `--file` (formerly "output")
(Note that Rollup itself processes the config file, which is why we're able to use export default syntax – the code isn't being transpiled with Babel or anything similar, so you can only use ES2015 features that are supported in the version of Node.js that you're running.)
You can, if you like, specify a different config file from the default rollup.config.js:
rollup --config rollup.config.dev.js
rollup --config rollup.config.prod.js
So far, we've created a simple bundle from an entry point and a module imported via a relative path. As you build more complex bundles, you'll often need more flexibility – importing modules installed with npm, compiling code with Babel, working with JSON files and so on.
For that, we use plugins, which change the behaviour of Rollup at key points in the bundling process. A list of available plugins is maintained on the Rollup wiki.
For this tutorial, we'll use rollup-plugin-json, which allows Rollup to import data from a JSON file.
Create a file in the project root called package.json, and add the following content:
{
"name": "rollup-tutorial",
"version": "1.0.0",
"scripts": {
"build": "rollup -c"
}
}
Install rollup-plugin-json as a development dependency:
npm install --save-dev rollup-plugin-json
(We're using --save-dev rather than --save because our code doesn't actually depend on the plugin when it runs – only when we're building the bundle.)
Update your src/main.js file so that it imports from your package.json instead of src/foo.js:
// src/main.js
import { version } from '../package.json';
export default function () {
console.log('version ' + version);
}
Edit your rollup.config.js file to include the JSON plugin:
// rollup.config.js
import json from 'rollup-plugin-json';
export default {
input: 'src/main.js',
output: {
file: 'bundle.js',
format: 'cjs'
},
plugins: [ json() ]
};
Run Rollup with npm run build. The result should look like this:
'use strict';
var version = "1.0.0";
var main = function () {
console.log('version ' + version);
};
module.exports = main;
(Notice that only the data we actually need gets imported – name and devDependencies and other parts of package.json are ignored. That's tree-shaking in action!)
To use the new experimental code splitting feature, we add a second entry point called src/main2.js that itself dynamically loads main.js:
// src/main2.js
export default function () {
return import('./main.js').then(({ default: main }) => {
main();
});
}
We can then pass both entry points to the rollup build, and instead of an output file we set a folder to output to with the --dir option (also passing the experimental flags):
rollup src/main.js src/main2.js -f cjs --dir dist --experimentalCodeSplitting --experimentalDynamicImport
Either built entry point can then be run in NodeJS without duplicating any code between the modules:
node -e "require('./dist/main2.js')()"
You can build the same code for the browser, for native ES modules, an AMD loader or SystemJS.
For example, with -f es for native modules:
rollup src/main.js src/main2.js -f es --dir dist --experimentalCodeSplitting --experimentalDynamicImport
<!doctype html>
<script type="module">
import main2 from './dist/main2.js';
main2();
</script>
Or alternatively, for SystemJS with -f system:
rollup src/main.js src/main2.js -f system --dir dist --experimentalCodeSplitting --experimentalDynamicImport
install SystemJS via
npm install --save-dev systemjs
and then load either or both entry points in an HTML page as needed:
<!doctype html>
<script src="node_modules/systemjs/dist/system-production.js"></script>
<script>
System.import('./dist/main2.js')
.then(({ default: main }) => main());
</script>
Rollup should typically be used from the command line. You can provide an optional Rollup configuration file to simplify command line usage and enable advanced Rollup functionality.
Rollup configuration files are optional, but they are powerful and convenient and thus recommended.
A config file is an ES6 module that exports a default object with the desired options. Typically, it is called rollup.config.js and sits in the root directory of your project.
Consult the big list of options for details on each option you can include in your config file.
// rollup.config.js
export default { // can be an array (for multiple inputs)
// core input options
input, // required
external,
plugins,
// advanced input options
onwarn,
perf,
// danger zone
acorn,
acornInjectPlugins,
treeshake,
context,
moduleContext,
// experimental
experimentalCodeSplitting,
experimentalDynamicImport,
output: { // required (can be an array, for multiple outputs)
// core output options
format, // required
file,
dir,
name,
globals,
// advanced output options
paths,
banner,
footer,
intro,
outro,
sourcemap,
sourcemapFile,
interop,
extend,
// danger zone
exports,
amd,
indent,
strict,
freeze,
legacy,
namespaceToStringTag
},
watch: {
chokidar,
include,
exclude,
clearScreen
}
};
You can export an array from your config file to build bundles from several different unrelated inputs at once, even in watch mode. To build different bundles with the same input, you supply an array of output options for each input:
// rollup.config.js (building more than one bundle)
export default [{
input: 'main-a.js',
output: {
file: 'dist/bundle-a.js',
format: 'cjs'
}
}, {
input: 'main-b.js',
output: [
{
file: 'dist/bundle-b1.js',
format: 'cjs'
},
{
file: 'dist/bundle-b2.js',
format: 'es'
}
]
}];
If you want to create your config asynchronously, Rollup can also handle a Promise which resolves to an object or an array.
// rollup.config.js
import fetch from 'node-fetch';
export default fetch('/some-remote-service-or-file-which-returns-actual-config');
Similarly, you can do this as well:
// rollup.config.js (Promise resolving an array)
export default Promise.all([
fetch('get-config-1'),
fetch('get-config-2')
])
You must use a configuration file in order to do any of the following:
To use Rollup with a configuration file, pass the --config or -c flags.
# use Rollup with a rollup.config.js file
$ rollup --config
# alternatively, specify a custom config file location
$ rollup --config my.config.js
You can also export a function that returns any of the above configuration formats. This function will be passed the current command line arguments so that you can dynamically adapt your configuration to respect e.g. --silent. You can even define your own command line options if you prefix them with config:
// rollup.config.js
import defaultConfig from './rollup.default.config.js';
import debugConfig from './rollup.debug.config.js';
export default commandLineArgs => {
if (commandLineArgs.configDebug === true) {
return debugConfig;
}
return defaultConfig;
}
If you now run rollup --config --configDebug, the debug configuration will be used.
Many options have command line equivalents. Any arguments passed here will override the config file, if you're using one. See the big list of options for details.
-c, --config Use this config file (if argument is used but value
is unspecified, defaults to rollup.config.js)
-i, --input Input (alternative to <entry file>)
-o, --file <output> Output (if absent, prints to stdout)
-f, --format [es] Type of output (amd, cjs, es, iife, umd)
-e, --external Comma-separate list of module IDs to exclude
-g, --globals Comma-separate list of `module ID:Global` pairs
Any module IDs defined here are added to external
-n, --name Name for UMD export
-m, --sourcemap Generate sourcemap (`-m inline` for inline map)
-l, --legacy Support IE8
--amd.id ID for AMD module (default is anonymous)
--amd.define Function to use in place of `define`
--no-strict Don't emit a `"use strict";` in the generated modules.
--no-indent Don't indent result
--environment <values> Environment variables passed to config file
--no-conflict Generate a noConflict method for UMD globals
--no-treeshake Disable tree-shaking
--intro Content to insert at top of bundle (inside wrapper)
--outro Content to insert at end of bundle (inside wrapper)
--banner Content to insert at top of bundle (outside wrapper)
--footer Content to insert at end of bundle (outside wrapper)
--no-interop Do not include interop block
In addition, the following arguments can be used:
-h/--helpPrint the help document.
-v/--versionPrint the installed version number.
-w/--watchRebuild the bundle when its source files change on disk.
--silentDon't print warnings to the console.
--environment <values>Pass additional settings to the config file via process.ENV.
@@8
will set process.env.INCLUDE_DEPS === 'true' and process.env.BUILD === 'production'. You can use this option several times. In that case, subsequently set variables will overwrite previous definitions. This enables you for instance to overwrite environment variables in package.json scripts:
// in package.json
{
"scripts": {
"build": "rollup -c --environment INCLUDE_DEPS,BUILD:production"
}
}
If you call this script via @@10
then the config file will receive process.env.INCLUDE_DEPS === 'true' and process.env.BUILD === 'development'.
Rollup provides a JavaScript API which is usable from Node.js. You will rarely need to use this, and should probably be using the command line API unless you are extending Rollup itself or using it for something esoteric, such as generating bundles programmatically.
The rollup.rollup function returns a Promise that resolves to a bundle object with various properties and methods shown here:
const rollup = require('rollup');
// see below for details on the options
const inputOptions = {...};
const outputOptions = {...};
async function build() {
// create a bundle
const bundle = await rollup.rollup(inputOptions);
console.log(bundle.imports); // an array of external dependencies
console.log(bundle.exports); // an array of names exported by the entry point
console.log(bundle.modules); // an array of module objects
// generate code and a sourcemap
const { code, map } = await bundle.generate(outputOptions);
// or write the bundle to disk
await bundle.write(outputOptions);
}
build();
The inputOptions object can contain the following properties (see the big list of options for full details on these):
const inputOptions = {
// core options
input, // the only required option
external,
plugins,
// advanced options
onwarn,
cache,
perf,
// danger zone
acorn,
acornInjectPlugins,
treeshake,
context,
moduleContext,
// experimental
experimentalCodeSplitting,
experimentalDynamicImport
};
The outputOptions object can contain the following properties (see the big list of options for full details on these):
const outputOptions = {
// core options
format, // required
file,
dir,
name,
globals,
// advanced options
paths,
banner,
footer,
intro,
outro,
sourcemap,
sourcemapFile,
interop,
extend,
// danger zone
exports,
amd,
indent,
strict,
freeze,
legacy,
namespaceToStringTag
};
Rollup also provides a rollup.watch function that rebuilds your bundle when it detects that the individual modules have changed on disk. It is used internally when you run Rollup from the command line with the --watch flag.
const rollup = require('rollup');
const watchOptions = {...};
const watcher = rollup.watch(watchOptions);
watcher.on('event', event => {
// event.code can be one of:
// START — the watcher is (re)starting
// BUNDLE_START — building an individual bundle
// BUNDLE_END — finished building a bundle
// END — finished building all bundles
// ERROR — encountered an error while bundling
// FATAL — encountered an unrecoverable error
});
// stop watching
watcher.close();
The watchOptions argument is a config (or an array of configs) that you would export from a config file.
const watchOptions = {
...inputOptions,
output: [outputOptions],
watch: {
chokidar,
include,
exclude,
clearScreen
}
};
See above for details on inputOptions and outputOptions, or consult the big list of options for info on chokidar, include and exclude.
If you'd like to use the API in a TypeScript environment you can do so, as now we ship TypeScript declarations.
You need to install some dependencies in case you have skipLibCheck turned off.
npm install @types/acorn @types/chokidar source-map magic-string --only=dev
At some point, it's very likely that your project will depend on packages installed from npm into your node_modules folder. Unlike other bundlers like Webpack and Browserify, Rollup doesn't know 'out of the box' how to handle these dependencies - we need to add some configuration.
Let's add a simple dependency called the-answer, which exports the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything:
npm install the-answer # or `npm i the-answer`
If we update our src/main.js file...
// src/main.js
import answer from 'the-answer';
export default function () {
console.log('the answer is ' + answer);
}
...and run Rollup...
npm run build
...we'll see a warning like this:
(!) Unresolved dependencies
https://github.com/rollup/rollup/wiki/Troubleshooting#treating-module-as-external-dependency
the-answer (imported by main.js)
The resulting bundle.js will still work in Node.js, because the import declaration gets turned into a CommonJS require statement, but the-answer does not get included in the bundle. For that, we need a plugin.
The rollup-plugin-node-resolve plugin teaches Rollup how to find external modules. Install it...
npm install --save-dev rollup-plugin-node-resolve
...and add it to your config file:
// rollup.config.js
import resolve from 'rollup-plugin-node-resolve';
export default {
input: 'src/main.js',
output: {
file: 'bundle.js'
format: 'cjs'
},
plugins: [ resolve() ]
};
This time, when you npm run build, no warning is emitted — the bundle contains the imported module.
Some libraries expose ES6 modules that you can import as-is — the-answer is one such module. But at the moment, the majority of packages on npm are exposed as CommonJS modules instead. Until that changes, we need to convert CommonJS to ES2015 before Rollup can process them.
The rollup-plugin-commonjs plugin does exactly that.
Note that rollup-plugin-commonjs should go before other plugins that transform your modules — this is to prevent other plugins from making changes that break the CommonJS detection.
Let's say that you're building a library that has a peer dependency, such as React or Lodash. If you set up externals as described above, your rollup will bundle all imports:
import answer from 'the-answer';
import _ from 'lodash';
You can finely tune which imports are bundled and which are treated as external. For this example, we'll treat lodash as external, but not the-answer.
Here is the config file:
// rollup.config.js
import resolve from 'rollup-plugin-node-resolve';
export default {
input: 'src/main.js',
output: {
file: 'bundle.js',
format: 'cjs'
},
plugins: [resolve({
// pass custom options to the resolve plugin
customResolveOptions: {
moduleDirectory: 'node_modules'
}
})],
// indicate which modules should be treated as external
external: ['lodash']
};
Voila, lodash will now be treated as external, and not be bundled with your library.
The external key accepts either an array of module names or a function which takes the module name and returns true if it should be treated as external. For example:
export default {
// ...
external: id => /lodash/.test(id)
}
You might use this form if you're using babel-plugin-lodash to cherry-pick lodash modules. In this case, Babel will convert your import statements to look like this:
import _merge from 'lodash/merge';
The array form of external does not handle wildcards, so this import will only be treated as external in the functional form.
Many developers use Babel in their projects, so that they can use futuristic JavaScript features that aren't yet supported by browsers and Node.js.
The easiest way to use both Babel and Rollup is with rollup-plugin-babel. Install it:
npm i -D rollup-plugin-babel
Add it to rollup.config.js:
// rollup.config.js
import resolve from 'rollup-plugin-node-resolve';
import babel from 'rollup-plugin-babel';
export default {
input: 'src/main.js',
output: {
file: 'bundle.js',
format: 'cjs'
},
plugins: [
resolve(),
babel({
exclude: 'node_modules/**' // only transpile our source code
})
]
};
Before Babel will actually compile your code, it needs to be configured. Create a new file, src/.babelrc:
{
"presets": [
["env", {
"modules": false
}]
],
"plugins": ["external-helpers"]
}
There are a few unusual things about this setup. First, we're setting "modules": false, otherwise Babel will convert our modules to CommonJS before Rollup gets a chance to do its thing, causing it to fail.
Secondly, we're using the external-helpers plugin, which allows Rollup to include any 'helpers' just once at the top of the bundle, rather than including them in every module that uses them (which is the default behaviour).
Thirdly, we're putting our .babelrc file in src, rather than the project root. This allows us to have a different .babelrc for things like tests, if we need that later – it's generally a good idea to have separate configuration for separate tasks.
Now, before we run rollup, we need to install the env preset and the external-helpers plugin:
npm i -D babel-preset-env babel-plugin-external-helpers
Running Rollup now will create a bundle... except we're not actually using any ES2015 features. Let's change that. Edit src/main.js:
// src/main.js
import answer from 'the-answer';
export default () => {
console.log(`the answer is ${answer}`);
}
Run Rollup with npm run build, and check the bundle:
'use strict';
var index = 42;
var main = (function () {
console.log('the answer is ' + index);
});
module.exports = main;
Rollup returns promises which are understood by gulp so integration is easy.
The syntax is very similar to the configuration file, but the properties are split across two different operations, corresponding to the JavaScript API:
const gulp = require('gulp');
const rollup = require('rollup');
const rollupTypescript = require('rollup-plugin-typescript');
gulp.task('build', () => {
return rollup.rollup({
input: './src/main.ts',
plugins: [
rollupTypescript()
]
}).then(bundle => {
return bundle.write({
file: './dist/library.js',
format: 'umd',
name: 'library',
sourcemap: true
});
});
});
Also you may use new async/await syntax
const gulp = require('gulp');
const rollup = require('rollup');
const rollupTypescript = require('rollup-plugin-typescript');
gulp.task('build', async function () {
const bundle = await rollup.rollup({
input: './src/main.ts',
plugins: [
rollupTypescript()
]
});
await bundle.write({
file: './dist/library.js',
format: 'umd',
name: 'library',
sourcemap: true
});
});
The following is intended as a lightweight reference for the module behaviors defined in the ES2015 specification, since a proper understanding of the import and export statements are essential to successful use of Rollup.
Imported values cannot be reassigned, though imported objects and arrays can be mutated (and the exporting module, and any other importers, will be affected by the mutation). In that way, they behave similarly to const declarations.
Import a specific item from a source module, with its original name.
import { something } from './module.js';
Import a specific item from a source module, with a custom name assigned upon import.
import { something as somethingElse } from './module.js';
Import everything from the source module as an object which exposes all the source module's named exports as properties and methods. Default exports are excluded from this object.
import * as module from './module.js'
The something example from above would then be attached to the imported object as a property, e.g. module.something.
Import the default export of the source module.
import something from './module.js';
Load the module code, but don't make any new objects available.
import './module.js';
This is useful for polyfills, or when the primary purpose of the imported code is to muck about with prototypes.
Import modules using the dynamic import API. This API is experimental and available under the experimentalDynamicImport flag.
import('./modules.js').then(({ default: DefaultExport, NamedExport })=> {
// do something with modules.
})
This is useful for code-splitting applications and using modules on-the-fly.
Export a value that has been previously declared:
var something = true;
export { something };
Rename on export:
export { something as somethingElse };
Export a value immediately upon declaration:
// this works with `var`, `let`, `const`, `class`, and `function`
export var something = true;
Export a single value as the source module's default export:
export default something;
This practice is only recommended if your source module only has one export.
It is bad practice to mix default and named exports in the same module, though it is allowed by the specification.
ES modules export live bindings, not values, so values can be changed after they are initially imported as per this demo:
// incrementer.js
export let count = 0;
export function increment() {
count += 1;
}
// main.js
import { count, increment } from './incrementer.js';
console.log(count); // 0
increment();
console.log(count); // 1
count += 1; // Error — only incrementer.js can change this
-i/--inputString/
String[] The bundle's entry point (e.g. your main.js or app.js or index.js). If you enable experimentalCodeSplitting, you can provide an array of entry points which will be bundled to separate chunks.
-o/--fileString The file to write to. Will also be used to generate sourcemaps, if applicable. If experimentalCodeSplitting is enabled and input is an array, you must specify dir instead of file.
--dirString The directory in which all generated chunks are placed. Only used if experimentalCodeSplitting is enabled and input is an array. In these cases this option replaces file.
-f/--formatString The format of the generated bundle. One of the following:
amd – Asynchronous Module Definition, used with module loaders like RequireJScjs – CommonJS, suitable for Node and Browserify/Webpackes – Keep the bundle as an ES module fileiife – A self-executing function, suitable for inclusion as a <script> tag. (If you want to create a bundle for your application, you probably want to use this, because it leads to smaller file sizes.)umd – Universal Module Definition, works as amd, cjs and iife all in onesystem – Native format of the SystemJS loader-n/--nameString The variable name, representing your iife/umd bundle, by which other scripts on the same page can access it.
// rollup.config.js
export default {
...,
output: {
file: 'bundle.js',
format: 'iife',
name: 'MyBundle'
}
};
// -> var MyBundle = (function () {...
Namespaces are supported, so your name can contain dots. The resulting bundle will contain the setup necessary for the namespacing.
$ rollup -n "a.b.c"
/* ->
this.a = this.a || {};
this.a.b = this.a.b || {};
this.a.b.c = ...
*/
Array of plugin objects (or a single plugin object) – see Getting started with plugins for more information. Remember to call the imported plugin function (i.e. commonjs(), not just commonjs).
// rollup.config.js
import resolve from 'rollup-plugin-node-resolve';
import commonjs from 'rollup-plugin-commonjs';
export default {
entry: 'main.js',
plugins: [
resolve(),
commonjs()
]
};
-e/--externalEither a Function that takes an id and returns true (external) or false (not external), or an Array of module IDs that should remain external to the bundle. The IDs should be either:
// rollup.config.js
import path from 'path';
export default {
...,
external: [
'some-externally-required-library',
path.resolve( './src/some-local-file-that-should-not-be-bundled.js' )
]
};
When given as a command line argument, it should be a comma-separated list of IDs:
rollup -i src/main.js ... -e foo,bar,baz
When providing a function, it is actually called with three parameters (id, parent, isResolved) that can give you more fine-grained control:
id is the id of the module in questionparent is the id of the module doing the importisResolved signals whether the id has been resolved by e.g. plugins-g/--globalsObject of id: name pairs, used for umd/iife bundles. For example, in a case like this...
import $ from 'jquery';
...we want to tell Rollup that the jquery module ID equates to the global $ variable:
// rollup.config.js
export default {
...,
output: {
format: 'iife',
name: 'MyBundle',
globals: {
jquery: '$'
}
}
};
/*
var MyBundle = (function ($) {
// code goes here
}(window.jQuery));
*/
Alternatively, supply a function that will turn an external module ID into a global.
When given as a command line argument, it should be a comma-separated list of id:name pairs:
rollup -i src/main.js ... -g jquery:$,underscore:_
Function that takes an ID and returns a path, or Object of id: path pairs. Where supplied, these paths will be used in the generated bundle instead of the module ID, allowing you to (for example) load dependencies from a CDN:
// app.js
import { selectAll } from 'd3';
selectAll('p').style('color', 'purple');
// ...
// rollup.config.js
export default {
input: 'app.js',
external: ['d3'],
output: {
file: 'bundle.js',
format: 'amd',
paths: {
d3: 'https://d3js.org/d3.v4.min'
}
}
};
// bundle.js
define(['https://d3js.org/d3.v4.min'], function (d3) {
d3.selectAll('p').style('color', 'purple');
// ...
});
-banner/--footerString A string to prepend/append to the bundle. You can also supply a Promise that resolves to a String to generate it asynchronously (Note: banner and footer options will not break sourcemaps)
// rollup.config.js
export default {
...,
output: {
...,
banner: '/* my-library version ' + version + ' */',
footer: '/* follow me on Twitter! @rich_harris */'
}
};
--intro/--outroString Similar to banner and footer, except that the code goes inside any format-specific wrapper. As with banner and footer, you can also supply a Promise that resolves to a String.
export default {
...,
output: {
...,
intro: 'var ENVIRONMENT = "production";'
}
};
Object A previously-generated bundle. Use it to speed up subsequent builds — Rollup will only reanalyse the modules that have changed.
Function that will intercept warning messages. If not supplied, warnings will be deduplicated and printed to the console.
Warnings are objects with at minimum a code and a message property, meaning you can control how different kinds of warnings are handled:
onwarn (warning) {
// skip certain warnings
if (warning.code === 'UNUSED_EXTERNAL_IMPORT') return;
// throw on others
if (warning.code === 'NON_EXISTENT_EXPORT') throw new Error(warning.message);
// console.warn everything else
console.warn(warning.message);
}
Many warnings also have a loc property and a frame allowing you to locate the source of the warning:
onwarn ({ loc, frame, message }) {
// print location if applicable
if (loc) {
console.warn(`${loc.file} (${loc.line}:${loc.column}) ${message}`);
if (frame) console.warn(frame);
} else {
console.warn(message);
}
}
-m/--sourcemapIf true, a separate sourcemap file will be created. If inline, the sourcemap will be appended to the resulting output file as a data URI.
--sourcemapFileString The location of the generated bundle. If this is an absolute path, all the sources paths in the sourcemap will be relative to it. The map.file property is the basename of sourcemapFile, as the location of the sourcemap is assumed to be adjacent to the bundle.
sourcemapFile is not required if output is specified, in which case an output filename will be inferred by adding ".map" to the output filename for the bundle.
--interop/--no-interop*true or false (defaults to true) – whether or not to add an 'interop block'. By default (interop: true), for safety's sake, Rollup will assign any external dependencies' default exports to a separate variable if it's necessary to distinguish between default and named exports. This generally only applies if your external dependencies were transpiled (for example with Babel) – if you're sure you don't need it, you can save a few bytes with interop: false.
--extend/--no-extend*true or false (defaults to false) – whether or not to extend the global variable defined by the name option in umd or iife formats. When true, the global variable will be defined as (global.name = global.name || {}). When false, the global defined by name will be overwritten like (global.name = {}).
--perftrue or false (defaults to false) – whether to collect performance timings. When used from the command line or a configuration file, detailed measurements about the current bundling process will be displayed. When used from the JavaScript API, the returned bundle object will contain an aditional getTimings() function that can be called at any time to retrieve all accumulated measurements.
You probably don't need to use these options unless you know what you're doing!
--treeshake/--no-treeshakeCan be true, false or an object (see below), defaults to true. Whether or not to apply tree-shaking and to fine-tune the tree-shaking process. Setting this option to false will produce bigger bundles but may improve build performance. If you discover a bug caused by the tree-shaking algorithm, please file an issue!
Setting this option to an object implies tree-shaking is enabled and grants the following additional options:
treeshake.pureExternalModules true/false (default: false). If true, assume external dependencies from which nothing is imported do not have other side-effects like mutating global variables or logging.
// input file
import {unused} from 'external-a';
import 'external-b';
console.log(42);
// output with treeshake.pureExternalModules === false
import 'external-a';
import 'external-b';
console.log(42);
// output with treeshake.pureExternalModules === true
console.log(42);
treeshake.propertyReadSideEffects true/false (default: true). If false, assume reading a property of an object never has side-effects. Depending on your code, disabling this option can significantly reduce bundle size but can potentially break functionality if you rely on getters or errors from illegal property access.
// Will be removed if treeshake.propertyReadSideEffects === false
const foo = {
get bar() {
console.log('effect');
return 'bar';
}
}
const result = foo.bar;
const illegalAccess = foo.quux.tooDeep;
Any options that should be passed through to Acorn, such as allowReserved: true. Cf. the Acorn documentation for more available options.
An array of plugins to be injected into Acorn. In order to use a plugin, you need to pass its inject function here and enable it via the acorn.plugins option. For instance, to use async iteration, you can specify
@@18
in your rollup configuration.
--contextString By default, the context of a module – i.e., the value of this at the top level – is undefined. In rare cases you might need to change this to something else, like 'window'.
Same as options.context, but per-module – can either be an object of id: context pairs, or an id => context function.
-l/--legacytrue or false (defaults to false) – adds support for very old environments like IE8 by stripping out more modern code that might not work reliably, at the cost of deviating slightly from the precise specifications required of ES6 module environments.
--exportsString What export mode to use. Defaults to auto, which guesses your intentions based on what the entry module exports:
default – suitable if you're only exporting one thing using export default ...named – suitable if you're exporting more than one thingnone – suitable if you're not exporting anything (e.g. you're building an app, not a library)The difference between default and named affects how other people can consume your bundle. If you use default, a CommonJS user could do this, for example:
var yourLib = require( 'your-lib' );
With named, a user would do this instead:
var yourMethod = require( 'your-lib' ).yourMethod;
The wrinkle is that if you use named exports but also have a default export, a user would have to do something like this to use the default export:
var yourMethod = require( 'your-lib' ).yourMethod;
var yourLib = require( 'your-lib' )['default'];
--amd.id and --amd.defineObject Can contain the following properties:
amd.id String An ID to use for AMD/UMD bundles:
// rollup.config.js
export default {
...,
format: 'amd',
amd: {
id: 'my-bundle'
}
};
// -> define('my-bundle', ['dependency'], ...
amd.define String A function name to use instead of define:
// rollup.config.js
export default {
...,
format: 'amd',
amd: {
define: 'def'
}
};
// -> def(['dependency'],...
--indent/--no-indentString the indent string to use, for formats that require code to be indented (amd, iife, umd). Can also be false (no indent), or true (the default – auto-indent)
// rollup.config.js
export default {
...,
output: {
...,
indent: false
}
};
--strict/--no-strict*true or false (defaults to true) – whether to include the 'use strict' pragma at the top of generated non-ES6 bundles. Strictly-speaking (geddit?), ES6 modules are always in strict mode, so you shouldn't disable this without good reason.
--freeze/--no-freezetrue or false (defaults to true) – wether to Object.freeze() namespace import objects (i.e. import * as namespaceImportObject from...) that are accessed dynamically.
--namespaceToStringTag/--no-namespaceToStringTag*true or false (defaults to false) – whether to add spec compliant .toString() tags to namespace objects. If this option is set,
import * as namespace from './file.js';
console.log(String(namespace));
will always log [object Module];
These options reflect new features that have not yet been fully finalized. Specific behaviour and usage may therefore be subject to change.
--experimentalDynamicImporttrue or false (defaults to false) – adds the necessary acorn plugin to enable parsing dynamic imports, e.g.
@@26
When used without experimentalCodeSplitting, statically resolvable dynamic imports will be automatically inlined into your bundle. Also enables the resolveDynamicImport plugin hook.
--experimentalCodeSplittingtrue or false (defaults to false) – enables you to specify multiple entry points. If this option is enabled, input can be set to an array of entry points to be built into the folder at the provided output.dir.
output.dir folder correspond to the entry point filenames.experimentalDynamicImport flag to generate new chunks for dynamic imports as well.output.dir and input as an array must both be provided for code splitting to work, the output.file option is not compatible with code splitting workflows.
These options only take effect when running Rollup with the --watch flag, or using rollup.watch.
A Boolean indicating that chokidar should be used instead of the built-in fs.watch, or an Object of options that are passed through to chokidar.
You must install chokidar separately if you wish to use it.
Limit the file-watching to certain files:
// rollup.config.js
export default {
...,
watch: {
include: 'src/**'
}
};
Prevent files from being watched:
// rollup.config.js
export default {
...,
watch: {
exclude: 'node_modules/**'
}
};
true or false (defaults to true) – whether to clear the screen when a rebuild is triggered.