importmap-rails VS vite_ruby

With importmaps (https://github.com/rails/importmap-rails) and Hotwire (https://hotwired.dev/), you write plain js and serve it.

Also packages are served via CDN. There is no tree shaking. Rails got rid of the whole bundling step.

Importmap audit - “checks the NPM registry for known security issues”

It worked, but JS changes were not coming through. Digging into the Importmap docs (see 'sweeping the cache', it monitors changes according to the setting config.importmap.cache_sweepers. So, by adding the locations where I have my JS files, I also got JS changes passed through.

You can't use TypeScript, or anything that requires pre-compile, with importmap. answered issue

Let's begin by installing the necessary dependencies. The first gem generates the importmap object, manages caching, and helps with library installations, among other things. I recommend reading the entire readme to become familiar with its capabilities. The second gem will be discussed later, it is used to compile JSX files. Gemfile

Yeah, those were brand new right around the time I started this project a few years ago with Rails 7 (or was it 6.1?). I actually ended up removing them in favor of importmap-rails since I wanted as simple of a frontend as possible and I wasn't sure of relying on what was, at the time, a brand new way of doing frontend work. Things change so quickly in JS-land that I'm always hesitant to make something a dependency unless it has a strong track record of being continuously maintained.

source "https://rubygems.org" git_source(:github) { |repo| "https://github.com/#{repo}.git" } ruby "3.1.0" # Bundle edge Rails instead: gem "rails", github: "rails/rails", branch: "main" gem "rails", "~> 7.0.4", ">= 7.0.4.2" # The original asset pipeline for Rails [https://github.com/rails/sprockets-rails] gem "sprockets-rails" # Use sqlite3 as the database for Active Record gem "sqlite3", "~> 1.4" # Use the Puma web server [https://github.com/puma/puma] gem "puma", "~> 5.0" # Use JavaScript with ESM import maps [https://github.com/rails/importmap-rails] gem "importmap-rails" # Hotwire's SPA-like page accelerator [https://turbo.hotwired.dev] gem "turbo-rails" # Hotwire's modest JavaScript framework [https://stimulus.hotwired.dev] gem "stimulus-rails" # Build JSON APIs with ease [https://github.com/rails/jbuilder] gem "jbuilder" gem "mongoid" gem "mongoid-grid_fs" gem 'bootstrap', '~> 5.2.2' #sourced from https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap-rubygem gem 'rack-cors' # Windows does not include zoneinfo files, so bundle the tzinfo-data gem gem "tzinfo-data", platforms: %i[ mingw mswin x64_mingw jruby ] # Reduces boot times through caching; required in config/boot.rb gem "bootsnap", require: false

Also, installing StimulusReflex seems quite not easy for the moment: It seems there are some quirks along the way if you're using import-maps for managing javascript dependencies as I do. Embracing the Rails way at least prevents you from this sort of issue.

If you're using importmap-rails, you'll need to pin stimulus-multiselect:

With the recent release of Bun and its newfound support for Vite, coupled with Ruby on Rails 7.1 incorporating native support for Bun, developers can now enhance their web development workflow significantly. Here is the effortless process of enabling Bun for Vite Ruby, ultimately streamlining your front-end builds.

Vite, in particular, ViteRuby is a solid option. It sits between ESBuild and Webpacker, and if you're looking at Webpacker, Vite may actually be a better option for you. It is a very solid option, and I've enjoyed using Vite personally.

Yep. vite_rails (website/GitHub) is the way to go.

Use vite with https://vite-ruby.netlify.app/ if you don’t go the inertia route.

--skip-javascript is necessary for avoiding conflicts on the next steps. In case of bootstrap/foundation-sites the asset pipeline is helpful so --skip-asset-pipeline is not applied.

Vite Ruby is an umbrella project with libraries that will allow you to easily integrate Vite at your favourite Ruby framework, such as Rails or Hanami, or a plain Rack app. If you are tired of waiting for webpack to compile, this project might be for you. ​ Vite.js in Ruby ## Why Vite? 🤔 Vite does not bundle your code during development, which means the dev server is extremely fast to start, and your changes will be updated instantly thanks to HMR. This is great when adjusting styles, or tweaking behavior in JS. In production, Vite bundles your code with tree-shaking, lazy-loading, and common chunk splitting out of the box, to achieve optimal loading performance. ## Why Vite in Ruby? 🤔 Vite is great on its own, but configuring it correctly to work for a Ruby app structure requires knowledge of its internals. By following existing Rails and Rack conventions, and adding a few of its own, it becomes possible for ⠀everyone to leverage Vite and its wonderful features! If you are curious about the difference, check this Jumpstart Rails template.

Vite Rails Docs

It something that basically doesn't work properly since the birth of Rails, 15 years ago. For beginners, this is a big disappointment. You have to tweak Guard-livereload (tricky and not always working, as you mentionned), or try things like browserSync (also tricky, also not always working...) My advice so far : keep Sprockets, in order to have a nice integration with older gems. And completly remove the current js-bundling + importmaps. Instead, replace with the gem 'vite_rails' (repo here : https://github.com/ElMassimo/vite_ruby).