Building a scalable and modular architecture with JavaScript Module Federation and Webpack 5

18 Sep 2023

techblog

In today’s rapidly evolving web development landscape, building a scalable and modular architecture is crucial to ensure maintainability, code reuse, and team collaboration. Luckily, with the emergence of JavaScript Module Federation and the latest version of Webpack, version 5, this task has become even more straightforward.

What is JavaScript Module Federation?

JavaScript Module Federation is a feature introduced in webpack, a popular module bundler for JavaScript applications. It enables developers to share and consume code across different applications, thereby enabling micro-frontends and creating a truly modular architecture.

Advantages of JavaScript Module Federation

Code Reusability: JavaScript Module Federation allows developers to create reusable modules that can be consumed by multiple applications. This greatly reduces code duplication and leads to more efficient development workflows.
Scalability: As your application grows, JavaScript Module Federation enables you to split your code into smaller, more manageable chunks. This results in better performance and easier maintenance.
Team Collaboration: With JavaScript Module Federation, teams can work on different parts of the application independently, as they can develop and maintain their own micro-frontends. This promotes a more efficient development process and allows for quicker iterations.

Getting Started with JavaScript Module Federation and Webpack 5

To start building a scalable and modular architecture with JavaScript Module Federation and Webpack 5, follow these steps:

Install Webpack 5: Begin by installing the latest version of webpack globally or locally in your project.

npm install webpack@5 --save-dev

Initialize Webpack Configuration: Create a webpack.config.js file in the root of your project and configure the necessary settings for module federation.

const { ModuleFederationPlugin } = require('webpack').container;

module.exports = {
  // Other Webpack configuration options...

  plugins: [
    new ModuleFederationPlugin({
      // Configuration options...
    }),
  ],
};

Configure Module Federation: Customize the configuration options for your module federation setup. Specify the modules you want to share and consume, and define the exposed and consumed dependencies.

const { ModuleFederationPlugin } = require('webpack').container;

module.exports = {
  // Other Webpack configuration options...

  plugins: [
    new ModuleFederationPlugin({
      name: 'myApp',
      filename: 'remoteEntry.js',
      exposes: {
        './App': './src/App',
      },
      shared: {
        react: {
          singleton: true,
          requiredVersion: '^17.0.2',
        },
        'react-dom': {
          singleton: true,
          requiredVersion: '^17.0.2',
        },
      },
    }),
  ],
};

Build and Run Applications: With the module federation configuration in place, build your applications using webpack and deploy them to their respective hosts. Ensure the remoteEntry.js file is accessible from the consuming application.

Conclusion

JavaScript Module Federation, coupled with Webpack 5, offers developers a powerful toolset to build scalable and modular architectures. Leveraging its code reusability, scalability, and team collaboration benefits, you can create efficient and maintainable applications. By following the steps outlined above, you can get started with JavaScript Module Federation and improve your development workflow today.

#techblog #javascript #webpack #modulararchitecture