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Generating static assets the frontend build

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Tom Byers edited this page Feb 17, 2023 · 1 revision

Generating static assets - the frontend build

Getting Started

Installing Node

brew install node

NPM is Node's package management tool. nvm is a tool for managing different versions of NodeJS. Follow the guidance on nvm's github repository to install it.

Once installed, run the following to switch to the version of NodeJS for this project. If you don't have that version, it should tell you how to install it.

nvm use

Installing NPM packages

npm install

This is generally used when working on the JavaScript or other frontend components of a project.

Notify JavaScript projects all use a package-lock.json file. Running npm install will install dependencies listed in this file.

Changing package.json before running npm install will install the new or updated dependencies and write the change to the dependency tree to package-lock.json. Changes to both files should be committed.

npm ci

Modern versions of NPM introduce npm ci. This can be used in CI & test environments when a clean installation of all packages using the exact versions specified in package-lock.json is required.

If there is any discrepancy in dependency versions between package.json and package-lock.json the install will fail.

Updating the project Node version

Edit the respective node version specified in the .nvmrc file.

Run nvm install to install the new Node version.

The version specified in the .nvmrc file is also used to select the Node version used in CI builds:

  • Creating a PR with an updated version will build the PR using that version
  • Merging a version change will build and deploy the frontend assets using the new version

Ensure that an LTS Node version is specified. This will also ensure the corresponding LTS NPM version is also installed.

More JavaScript documentation

Other resources

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