Babel Root Import

Babel plugin to add the opportunity to use import and require with root based paths.

Example

// Usually
import SomeExample from '../../../some/example.js';
const OtherExample = require('../../../other/example.js');

// With Babel-Root-Importer
import SomeExample from '~/some/example.js';
const OtherExample = require('~/other/example.js');

Install

npm

npm install @textpress/babel-plugin-root-import --save-dev

yarn

yarn add @textpress/babel-plugin-root-import --dev

Use

Add a .babelrc file and write:

{
  "plugins": [
    ["@textpress/babel-plugin-root-import"]
  ]
}

or pass the plugin with the plugins-flag on CLI

babel-node myfile.js --plugins @textpress/babel-plugin-root-import

Extras

Custom root-path-suffix

If you want a custom root because for example all your files are in the src/js folder you can define this in your .babelrc file

{
  "plugins": [
    ["@textpress/babel-plugin-root-import", {
      "rootPathSuffix": "src/js"
    }]
  ]
}

Custom root-path-prefix

If you don't like the ~ syntax you can just use your own symbol (for example a @ symbol or \)

{
  "plugins": [
    ["@textpress/babel-plugin-root-import", {
      "rootPathPrefix": "@"
    }]
  ]
}

// Now you can use the plugin like:
import foo from '@/my-file';

Multiple custom prefixes and suffixes

You can supply an array of the above. The plugin will try each prefix/suffix pair in the order they are defined.

{
  "plugins": [
    ["@textpress/babel-plugin-root-import", [{
      "rootPathPrefix": "~", // `~` is the default so you can remove this if you want
      "rootPathSuffix": "src/js"
    }, {
      "rootPathPrefix": "@",
      "rootPathSuffix": "other-src/js"
    }, {
      "rootPathPrefix": "#",
      "rootPathSuffix": "../../src/in/parent" // since we suport relative paths you can also go into a parent directory
    }]]
  ]
}

// Now you can use the plugin like:
import foo from '~/my-file';
const bar = require('@/my-file');

Don't let ESLint be confused

If you use eslint-plugin-import to validate imports it may be necessary to instruct ESLint to parse root imports. You can use eslint-import-resolver-babel-root-import

    "import/resolver": {
      "@textpress/babel-plugin-root-import": {}
    }

Don't let Flow be confused

If you use Facebook's Flow for type-checking it is necessary to instruct it on how to map your chosen prefix to the root directory. Add the following to your .flowconfig file, replacing ~ with your chosen prefix and ensure that the mapping includes the corresponding suffix:

[options]
module.name_mapper='^{rootPathPrefix}/\(.*\)$' -> '<PROJECT_ROOT>{rootPathSuffix}/\1'

FYI

Webpack delivers a similar feature, if you just want to prevent end-less import strings you can also define aliases in the resolve module, at the moment it doesn't support custom/different symbols and multiple/custom suffixes. READ MORE