rules_nodejs VS parcel

Bazel is just the infrastructure to run webpack. You'd need to do some work to make webpack's state be cacheable (I dunno what options and such it has for this, maybe it's already there as an option). But if you're looking at Bazel for JS work you probably just want to use the existing and maintained rules for it: https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs It's been a while since I last looked at it but I don't think it has any caching for webpack.

> Is Bazel designed in a way that make it impossible to do JS monorepos well?

Not impossible, but you really need to go all in with it and follow its conventions and practices. See this for the main docs: https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs

One thing in particular that doesn't work well in the bazel world is doing your own stuff outside its BUILD.bazel files. If you're used to just npm install and jam some code in your package.json scripts... that doesn't usually work in the bazel world. If you have a lot of logic or tools in your build you'll likely need to go all in and make bazel starlark rules or macros that recreate that logic. Nothing is impossible, but expect to spend time getting up to speed and getting things working the bazel way.

I am using Bazel with rules_nodejs and Webpack. There's an example here.

It is probably possible to build Angular with ts_project(), however you'd need to manually manage the compiler (Angular has its own) and tsconfig (Angular needs special options). ts_library() does a lot of this for you, so I think it would probably be easier to use that than to force yourself onto ts_project(). The canonical Angular example uses ts_library() FWIW: https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs/tree/master/examples/angular

https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_nodejs

Nx is widely used in the Angular community. The Angular team at Google had plans to add Bazel support to the Angular CLI for many years, but the plans didn't materialize. The key folks (e.g., Alex Eagle) working on the effort left Google. Google employees no longer maintain rules_nodejs.

At first we wanted to just get rid of all the helper utilities. Keep only the kernel, but this would mean a loss of backward compatibility. We needed some efficient code processing instead with recomposition and tree-shaking. We needed a bundler. But which one? Our testing approach relies on targets, not sources. We rebuilt the project frequently, speed was critical requirement. In essence, we chose a solution from a couple of among all available alternatives: esbuild and parcel. Esbuild won. Specifically in our case, it proved to be more productive and customizable.

It runs using Parcel, very simple and easy to setup. The app has 3 files:

Homepage: https://parceljs.org/

In the Changelog Podcast episode referenced above, Dan Abramov alluded to Parcel working on RSC support as well. I couldn’t find much to back up that claim aside from a GitHub issue discussing directives and a social media post by Devon Govett (creator of Parcel), so I can’t say for sure if Parcel is currently a viable option for developing with RSCs.

Parcel 2 emphasizes a zero-configuration approach to bundling web applications. It's a powerful tool that offers a hassle-free developer experience, focusing on simplicity and speed.

Once you build a simple Vite backend integration, try not to complicate Vite's configuration unless you absolutely must. Vite has become one of the most popular bundlers in the frontend space, but it wasn't the first and it certainly won't be the last. In my 7 years of building for the web, I've used Grunt, Gulp, Webpack, esbuild, and Parcel. Snowpack and Rome came-and-went before I ever had a chance to try them. Bun is vying for the spot of The New Hotness in bundling, Rome has been forked into Biome, and Vercel is building a Rust-based Webpack alternative.

Parcel

I’ve tried something similar on the frontend side: I decided to build a UI for Ollama.ai using only HTML, CSS, and JS (Single-Page Application). The goal is to learn something new and have zero runtime dependencies on other projects and NPM modules. Only Node and Parcel.js (https://parceljs.org/) are needed during development for serving files, bundling, etc. The only runtime dependency is a modern browser.

Here's what I have found so far:

- JavaScript (vanilla) is a viable alternative to React.js

Besides Webpack, there are many other popular web bundlers available, such as Parcel, Esbuild, Rollup, and more. They all have their own unique features and strengths, and you should make your decision based on the needs and requirements of your specific project. Please refer to their official websites for details.

In the Node.js ecosystem, bundling is typically handled by third-party tools rather than Node.js itself. Some of the most popular bundlers in the Node.js world include Webpack, Rollup, and Parcel, offering features like code splitting, tree shaking, and hot module replacement.