npm-rails

NPM support for Rails projects. It let you use Bundler-like DSL and rake tasks for including npm packages. This gem based on Browserify for bundling packages and resolve dependencies.

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'npm-rails'

Then run:

rails g npm_rails:initialize

And require npm-dependencies.js:

//=require npm-dependencies

Usage

1. Add a package to npm_packages file
2. Run rake npm:install
3. Use the package in your javascript code by calling the camelize name or build_name if you set it

Example npm_packages file

# call 'React' in your js code to use it
npm 'react'

# Set version
npm 'redux', '3.3.1'

# Set build_name to a package.
# Call '_' to get Underscore
npm 'underscore', build_name: '_'

# You can add a package for development
npm 'jasmine', development: true

# Or in block
development do
  npm 'jasmine'
end

# Install a package but do not require it
npm 'browserify', require: false

Configuration Options

The following options are available for configuration in your application or environment-level config files (config/application.rb, config/environments/development.rb, etc.):

Configuration Option	Description
config.npm.package_file	Specificies a package file. Default value: npm_packages
config.npm.output_file	Specifies a file where to bundle npm packages. Default value for production: vendor/assets/javascripts/npm-rails/production/npm-dependencies.js. Default value for other environments: vendor/assets/javascripts/npm-rails/development/npm-dependencies.js
config.npm.browserify_options	Sets options for browserify command. See all available options in Browserify documentation
config.npm.run_before_assets_precompile	If set to true then run rake npm:install before assets precompilation. Default value: false

How it works

The generator creates npm_packages file. This file contains a list of packages. Rake uses NPM to install the packages and Browserify to bundle them. Browserify output the bundled results to output_file(see configuration options), which are then loaded by sprockets. All packages attached to window by build_name, which by default is the camelize package name.