webpack-dev-server API

webpack-dev-server provides a Node.js API which can be used directly in Node.js runtime.

Installation

To start using the webpack-dev-server Node.js API, first install webpack and webpack-dev-server if you haven’t yet:

npm install --save-dev webpack webpack-dev-server

Then require the modules in your Node.js script:

const Webpack = require('webpack');
const WebpackDevServer = require('webpack-dev-server');

start

It instructs webpack-dev-server instance to start the server.

server.js

const Webpack = require('webpack');
const WebpackDevServer = require('webpack-dev-server');
const webpackConfig = require('./webpack.config.js');

const compiler = Webpack(webpackConfig);
const devServerOptions = { ...webpackConfig.devServer, open: true };
const server = new WebpackDevServer(devServerOptions, compiler);

const runServer = async () => {
  console.log('Starting server...');
  await server.start();
};

runServer();

And then run the server with the following command:

node server.js

startCallback(callback)

It instructs webpack-dev-server instance to start the server and then run the callback function.

server.js

const Webpack = require('webpack');
const WebpackDevServer = require('webpack-dev-server');
const webpackConfig = require('./webpack.config.js');

const compiler = Webpack(webpackConfig);
const devServerOptions = { ...webpackConfig.devServer, open: true };
const server = new WebpackDevServer(devServerOptions, compiler);

server.startCallback(() => {
  console.log('Successfully started server on http://localhost:8080');
});

And then run the server with the following command:

node server.js

stop

It instructs webpack-dev-server instance to stop the server.

server.js

const Webpack = require('webpack');
const WebpackDevServer = require('webpack-dev-server');
const webpackConfig = require('./webpack.config.js');

const compiler = Webpack(webpackConfig);
const devServerOptions = { ...webpackConfig.devServer, open: true };
const server = new WebpackDevServer(devServerOptions, compiler);

const runServer = async () => {
  console.log('Starting server...');
  await server.start();
};

const stopServer = async () => {
  console.log('Stopping server...');
  await server.stop();
};

runServer();

setTimeout(stopServer, 5000);

And then run the server with the following command:

node server.js

stopCallback(callback)

It instructs webpack-dev-server instance to stop the server and then run the callback function.

server.js

const Webpack = require('webpack');
const WebpackDevServer = require('webpack-dev-server');
const webpackConfig = require('./webpack.config.js');

const compiler = Webpack(webpackConfig);
const devServerOptions = { ...webpackConfig.devServer, open: true };
const server = new WebpackDevServer(devServerOptions, compiler);

server.startCallback(() => {
  console.log('Successfully started server on http://localhost:8080');
});

const stopServer = () =>
  server.stopCallback(() => {
    console.log('Server stopped.');
  });

setTimeout(stopServer, 5000);

And then run the server with the following command:

node server.js

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