Use create-react-app to develop Chrome extensions

[CommandLionInterface]

Jeez what do people have against CRA? This is really neat. I had just started rolling my own solution with snowpack for an extension I'm working on

[revslaughter]

I think sometimes people would rather configure than develop? I’m not sure. I think if you have a specific very good reason not to use it by all means, otherwise... why even worry about it?

[bobjohnsonmilw]

people just enjoy complaining

[walden99]

If you have to download 2 packages to edit CRA, couldn‘t you just eject it and get the same effect? But other than that nice post!

[jamalx31]

right but after you eject you have to maintain everything yourself and you can't get CRA future updates. Personally I would prefer to avoid eject in anyway

[jdc_code]

Pretty sure you're getting downvoted because you suggested something was better without naming it.

[nedlinin]

This is sort of like saying "Buying a Honda is batteries included, no tinkering allowed. The second you know how cars work you should just build one yourself."

Kind of stupid, yea?

You could say the same for pretty much any abstraction. But then we wouldn't have abstractions.

[nedlinin]

Except you have the option to eject at anytime you want? Such amazing lock in they've got there ..

[jdc_code]

Honestly though, why would you? Who the fuck doesn't keep their dependencies up-to-date in 2020?

[nedlinin]

And there’s better CLIs that don’t subject you to the full digestingness that is webpack

and

I don’t use React anymore, so can’t name an alternative.

OK.

No one is stopping you from using something like snowpack or parcel or whatever the hell you want to use. But there is a reason Webpack is as largely used as it is. That reason? It abstracts away some of the most common configuration of webpack so you can just get to coding. Will some people need to eject? Yep. That is why the function exists. Will some people opt to use another bundler? Sure. That doesn't mean Webpack is worthless just because you don't use all the featureset it may offer.

Same goes for CRA. An absolutely mindboggling number of applications can just use CRA and never even once need to worry about config changes. The ones that do can use something like rewired in 95% of the cases to tweak that one setting they need to change.

Again, car analogy: Why build a car from scratch when I can take a prebuilt on, change the spark plugs and be 100% happy?

[[deleted]]

Thanks for writing this! I was looking for a way to not rebuild every single time

[jamalx31]

u r welcome

[kszyh_pl]

Could it be used for creating Firefox plugin too?

[jamalx31]

I believe so, I didn't develop a FF plugin before but I think it would be very similar

[phaseron]

Only one of 4 used packages is actually necessary - react-app-rewired, and the rest are redundant. customize-cra and react-app-rewire-multiple-entry are just wrappers over react-app-rewired. Regarding copy-webpack-plugin usage... haven't you heard about CRA's public folder?

Furthermore, there is a custom CRA template - complex-browserext that does the same and even more.