Parcel.js + ExpressJS + ReactJS

a simple boilerplate to bootstrap a server+client project

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Why?

In short, Webpack Fatique. While webpack is supremely configurable, it's something of a nightmare to setup, and many basic assumptions (like babel support, jsx if using ReactJS, images, less/sass compiling, etc) are not included by default. Each has to be researched, included, and configured. If you want to build a server+client in a single app, this complexity explodes even further. Parcel.js touts a blazing fast "zero-config" setup, and has been confirmed by this project to do just that, while supporting many of these complexities out of the box.

Structure

• /client - throw your entire untranspiled client code+assets in here (entry point is index.html)
• /server - throw your entire untranspiled server code here (entry point is index.js)
• /dist - generated output using the npm run build or npm run dev commands
• .env (root) - local environment variables will be automatically loaded
• rollup.config.js - in case you have specific server-side build complexities, modify this

Supports (out of the box)

• React/JSX
• Hot Reloading
• CSS/LESS/SASS
• Images
• Autoreloading of server & client while in npm run dev mode
• Sourcemaps (manual refresh required, as hot-reloading messes with sourcemaps)
• Build to ES5
• Cache-busting

NPM Commands

The following NPM commands are included for convenience.

npm run dev         # runs client and server in watch mode @ http://localhost:3000
npm run build       # builds the server + client in production mode to /dist
npm start           # runs the built server from /dist/server.js (sourced from /server/index.js)

# shortcuts
npm run build:start # builds and runs start