loadstar - a module builder for node.js and the browser

1. You want to share code between node.js and the browser
2. You do not want a build step between saving a file and running the code (in the browser, or on node).
3. You want to be able to package your code for the browser in production.
4. You want explicit control over what gets packaged.

loadstar is a node.js package that builds a package for the browser, but still uses code that works well from node.js. It does not try to infer your intentions from your require statements, but it adds an api on top of require so that your intentions are made explicit.

With loadstar, the code you write runs directly from node. In the browser during development, the code runs through a simple transform (available as an express route handler). In the browser for production, loadstar will package your code into one or more files.

It has the following api:

1. loadstar.require: Require this file for both node and the browser.
2. loadstar.define: Define this file into your app's namespace for both node and the browser.
3. loadstar.browser: Add this file to the list for the browser.

Example

app/index.js
app/browser.init.js
app/models/index.js
app/models/User.js
app/views/Login.js

// app/index.js:

// Require loadstar. loadstar is a function that takes the label of the app you are building as
// the first argument, and the filename you are calling from as the second, argument,
// and an optional options argument. If you use `loadstar.define`, you must tell it the appDir
// (root of your app source tree).
var loadstar = require('loadstar')('myapp', __filename, {appDir: '.'});

// browser adds the file to the package solely for the browser. Note that if you use an
// absolute path, it will base the root at your package's root.
loadstar.browser('/node_modules/underscore/underscore.js');

// `loadstar.define` will require the file, and extend our global variable. After
// this call, `myapp.models.User` will be defined.
loadstar.define('./models/User');

// Require works as normal, and is not modified in any way. Here, we require a
// submodule of our app.
require('./views');

// Use `loadstar.browser` to add our browser init script that will bootstrap our
// app into the browser.
loadstar.browser('./browser.init');

// lib/models/User.js
// Regular commonjs exports style.
module.exports = function() {};

// lib/views/index.js
var loadstar = require('loadstar')('myapp', __filename, {appDir: '..'});

// Add some dependencies required for the view layer
global.React = require('react');
loadstar.browser('/vendor/js/react.js');

// We could do the above without a global by requiring react in
// every view that needs it. The loadstar comment is added so that
// the line gets removed in the browser.
var React = require('react'); // loadstar

// Require our view components here
loadstar.define('./Login');

// lib/views/Login.js
module.exports = function() {};

// lib/browser.init.js
var view = new myapp.views.Login();
document.getElementById('#app').innerHTML(view.render());

// test/models/User.js

// We can use our files directly from node
var User = require('../../lib/models/User');

describe('User', function() {
  it('should be defined', function() {
    expect(User).to.exist;
  });
});

// test/views/Login.js

// Or, we can use the source from node by requiring
// the module index, and using the exposed global:
require('../../lib/views');
describe('Login View', function() {
  it('should be defined', function() {
    expect(React).to.exist;
    expect(myapp.views.Login).to.exist;
  });
});

// In development, we can install an express handler to serve 
// up our individual files for the browser.
if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
  loadstar.installExpress(server, {rootDir: __dirname, app: '/js/app.js'});
}

# We can then package the app for procuction
$ loadstar package myapp app::www/app.js

# We can also package the app into multiple files
$ loadstar package myapp app::www/app.js app/admin::www/admin.js

FAQ:

require shim?

No require shim in the compiled file. lightest weight, simplest result.

This requires a specific loader?

The shim file implements a loader for dev purposes. In production you control your own loading.

How do I split my app into multiple files

The command line tool takes a list of 'require path'::'file to write'. It will go through the list in order, and first require the path, and then write out the state of the app (either into a shim loader with build, or a concatenated file with package). The next file to be required will only add any files that were not in the first package. In that way you can split the app however you want.

Say for example you wanted to have most of the dependencies in one file, and the app in another. You could have a lib/deps.js file that would contain loadstar.browser('path/to/underscore.js'); loadstar.browser('path/to/backbone.js');. lib/index.js would then contain require('./deps.js'); loadstar.define('models');. Then the following command would put everything required by deps.js into the first file, and everything else into the second.

loadstar package myapp lib/deps::www/js/deps.js lib::www/js/app.js

Is there a watch mode?

With the express module, the newest version the files will be served up during development.

There is support for generating a depenency file that make will understand with the option --deps. More build tool integration hopefully coming.