rollup-plugin-node-externals

A Rollup/Vite plugin that automatically declares NodeJS built-in modules and npm dependencies as external.

• Ultra-lightweight: less than 10 kB download, less than 25 kB unpacked.
• Zero runtime dependencies.
• Works in monorepos.
• Works with all package managers.

Why you need this

(click to read if you're wondering)

By default, Rollup doesn't know a thing about NodeJS, so trying to bundle simple things like import path from 'node:path' in your code results in an Unresolved dependencies warning.

The solution here is quite simple: you must tell Rollup that the node:path module is in fact external. This way, Rollup won't try to bundle it in and rather leave the import statement as is (or translate it to a require() call if bundling for CommonJS).

However, this must be done for each and every NodeJS built-in you happen to use in your program: node:path, node:os, node:fs, node:url, etc., which can quickly become cumbersome when done manually.

So the primary goal of this plugin is simply to automatically declare all NodeJS built-in modules as external. As an added bonus, this plugin will also declare your dependencies (as per your local or monorepo package.json file(s)) as external.

Requirements

• Rollup >= 4 or Vite >= 5
• NodeJS >= 24

Installation

Use your favorite package manager. Mine is npm:

npm install --save-dev rollup-plugin-node-externals

Usage

Import

The plugin is available both as the default export and as a named export:

import nodeExternals from 'rollup-plugin-node-externals'

and

import { nodeExternals } from 'rollup-plugin-node-externals'

will both work.

Options

You generally want to have your runtime dependencies (those that will be imported/required at runtime) listed under dependencies in package.json, and your development dependencies (those that should be bundled in by Rollup/Vite) listed under devDependencies.

If you follow this simple rule, then the default settings are just what you need:

// rollup.config.js / vite.config.js

export default {
  ...
  plugins: [
    nodeExternals(),
  ]
}

This will bundle your devDependencies in while leaving your dependencies, peerDependencies and optionalDependencies external.

Should the defaults not suit your case, here is the full list of options.

import nodeExternals from 'rollup-plugin-node-externals'

export default {
  ...
  plugins: [
    nodeExternals({

      // Mark NodeJS builtins external. Default: true.
      builtins?: boolean

      // node: prefix handing for importing NodeJS builtins. Default: 'add'.
      builtinsPrefix?: boolean | 'add' | 'strip' | 'ignore'

      // The path(s) to your package.json. Default: read below.
      packagePath?: string | string[]

      // Mark dependencies external? Default: true.
      deps?: boolean

      // Mark devDependencies external? Default: false.
      devDeps?: boolean

      // Mark peerDependencies external? Default: true.
      peerDeps?: boolean

      // Mark optionalDependencies external? Default: true.
      optDeps?: boolean

      // Modules to force include in externals. Default: [].
      include?: string | RegExp | (string | RegExp)[]

      // Modules to force exclude from externals. Default: [].
      exclude?: string | RegExp | (string | RegExp)[]
    })
  ]
}

builtins?: boolean = true

Set the builtins option to false if you'd like to use some shims/polyfills for those. You'll most certainly need an other plugin as well.

builtinsPrefix?: boolean | 'add' | 'strip' | 'ignore' = 'add'

How to handle the node: scheme when importing builtins (i.e., import path from 'node:path').

• If add or true (the default, recommended), the node: scheme is always added if missing, so path becomes node:path. In effect, this dedupes your imports of Node builtins by homogenizing their names to their schemed version.
• If strip or false, the scheme is always removed, so node:path becomes path. In effect, this dedupes your imports of Node builtins by homogenizing their names to their scheme-less version. Schemed-only builtins like node:test or node:sqlite are never stripped.
• ignore will simply leave all builtins imports as written in your code. Caveat: if you write node:path but one of your bundled dependencies uses path (or the other way around), your bundle will end up with both node:path and path imports.

Note

Scheme handling is always applied, regardless of the builtins options being enabled or not.

packagePath?: string | string[] = []

This option allows you to specify which package.json file(s) should be scanned for dependencies.

If not specified, the default is to start with the current directory's package.json then go up scan for all package.json files in parent directories recursively until either the root git directory is reached, the root of the monorepo is reached, or no other package.json can be found.

deps?: boolean = true
devDeps?: boolean = false
peerDeps?: boolean = true
optDeps?: boolean = true

Set the deps, devDeps, peerDeps and optDeps options to false to prevent the corresponding dependencies from being externalized, therefore letting Rollup/Vite bundle them with your code.

include?: string | RegExp | (string | RegExp)[] = []

Use the include option to force include certain dependencies into the list of externals regardless of other settings:

nodeExternals({
  deps: false,          // Deps will be bundled in
  include: 'some-dep'   // Except for 'some-dep'
})

exclude?: string | RegExp | (string | RegExp)[] = []

Conversely, use the exclude option to remove certain dependencies from the list of externals regardless of other settings:

nodeExternals({
  deps: true,           // Keep deps external
  exclude: /^this-dep/  // Yet we want `this-dep` (and all its sub-paths) bundled in
})

Notes

1/ This plugin is smart

• Falsy values in include and exclude are silently ignored. This allows for conditional constructs like exclude: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' && 'my-prod-only-dep'.
• Subpath imports are supported with regexes, meaning that include: /^lodash/ will externalize lodash and also lodash/map, lodash/merge, etc.

2/ This plugin is not that smart

It uses an exact match against your imports as written in your code. No resolving of path aliases or substitutions is made.

3/ Order matters

If you're also using @rollup/plugin-node-resolve, make sure this plugin comes before it in the plugins array:

import nodeExternals from 'rollup-plugin-node-externals'
import nodeResolve from '@rollup/plugin-node-resolve'

export default {
  ...
  plugins: [
    nodeExternals(),
    nodeResolve(),
  ]
}

Note that as of version 7.1, this plugin has a enforce: 'pre' property that will make Rollup and Vite call it very early in the module resolution process. Nevertheless, it is best to always make this plugin the first one in the plugins array.

4/ Rollup rules

Rollup's own external configuration option always takes precedence over this plugin. This is intentional.

5/ Using with Vite

This plugin has been compatible with Vite out-of-the-box since version 7.1. If you found an old tutorial on the Internet telling you to use some special trick to make it work with Vite… just don't. Here's how you should write your vite.config.js:

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import nodeExternals from 'rollup-plugin-node-externals'

export default defineConfig({
  ...
  plugins: [
    nodeExternals()
    // other plugins follow
  ]
})

Important

Make sure you use the top-level plugins array in vite.config.js as shown above. Using build.rollupOptions.plugins will probably not work. See #35 for details.

What's new in v9

This version mainly enhances performance when used in watch mode. This was achieved by ensuring that the buildStart hook builds the full dependencies list only when necessary.

Breaking changes

• As initiated with v7, each major update requires at least the Active LTS version of NodeJS at the time of publishing. With v9, this means NodeJS v24+ (up from v8's 20+).

See Github releases for full change log.

License

MIT