Scripts

This is a collection of reusable scripts tailored for WordPress development. For convenience, every tool provided in this package comes with an integrated recommended configuration.

When working seamlessly, sophisticated command-line interfaces help to turn work with a project into a more pleasant experience. However, it’s a misleading assumption that developers can easily pick the proper tools in the first place and then ensure that they play along with each other, including all their extensions. Besides, it’s still not enough because developers are left on their own to keep all configurations and dependent tools up to date. This problem multiplies when they support more than one project which shares the same setup.

Fortunately, there is a pattern that can simplify maintainers life – reusable scripts. The idea boils down to moving all the necessary configurations and scripts to one single tool dependency. In most cases, it should be possible to accomplish all tasks using the default settings, but some customization is allowed, too. With all that in place, updating all projects should become a very straightforward task.

This package is inspired by react-scripts and kcd-scripts.

Installation

You only need to install one npm module:

npm install @wordpress/scripts --save-dev

Note: This package requires Node.js version with long-term support status (check Active LTS or Maintenance LTS releases). It is not compatible with older versions.

Setup

This package offers a command-line interface and exposes a binary called wp-scripts so you can call it directly with npx – an npm package runner. However, this module is designed to be configured using the scripts section in the package.json file of your project. This comprehensive example demonstrates the most of the capabilities included.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"build": "wp-scripts build",
		"check-engines": "wp-scripts check-engines",
		"check-licenses": "wp-scripts check-licenses",
		"format": "wp-scripts format",
		"lint:css": "wp-scripts lint-style",
		"lint:js": "wp-scripts lint-js",
		"lint:md:docs": "wp-scripts lint-md-docs",
		"lint:pkg-json": "wp-scripts lint-pkg-json",
		"packages-update": "wp-scripts packages-update",
		"plugin-zip": "wp-scripts plugin-zip",
		"start": "wp-scripts start",
		"test:e2e": "wp-scripts test-e2e",
		"test:unit": "wp-scripts test-unit-js"
	}
}

It might also be a good idea to get familiar with the JavaScript Build Setup tutorial for setting up a development environment to use ESNext syntax. It gives a very in-depth explanation of how to use the build and start scripts.

Automatic block.json detection and the source code directory

When using the start or build commands, the source code directory ( the default is ./src) and its subdirectories are scanned for the existence of block.json files. If one or more are found, they are treated a entry points and will be output into corresponding folders in the build directory. This allows for the creation of multiple blocks that use a single build process. The source directory can be customized using the --webpack-src-dir flag and the output directory with the --output-path flag.

Updating to New Release

To update an existing project to a new version of @wordpress/scripts, open the changelog, find the version you’re currently on (check package.json in the top-level directory of your project), and apply the migration instructions for the newer versions.

In most cases bumping the @wordpress/scripts version in package.json and running npm install in the root folder of your project should be enough, but it’s good to check the changelog for potential breaking changes. There is also packages-update script included in this package that aims to automate the process of updating WordPress dependencies in your projects.

We commit to keeping the breaking changes minimal so you can upgrade @wordpress/scripts as seamless as possible.

Available Scripts

build

Transforms your code according the configuration provided so it’s ready for production and optimized for the best performance.

This script exits after producing a single build. For incremental builds, better suited for development, see the start script.

The entry points for your project get detected by scanning all script fields in block.json files located in the src directory. The script fields in block.json should pass relative paths to block.json in the same folder.

Example:

{
	"editorScript": "file:index.js",
	"script": "file:script.js",
	"viewScript": "file:view.js"
}

The fallback entry point is src/index.js (other supported extensions: .jsx, .ts, and .tsx) in case there is no block.json file found. In that scenario, the output generated will be written to build/index.js.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"build": "wp-scripts build",
		"build:custom": "wp-scripts build entry-one.js entry-two.js --output-path=custom",
		"build:copy-php": "wp-scripts build --webpack-copy-php",
		"build:custom-directory": "wp-scripts build --webpack-src-dir=custom-directory"
	}
}

This is how you execute the script with presented setup:

• npm run build - builds the code for production.
• npm run build:custom - builds the code for production with two entry points and a custom output directory. Paths for custom entry points are relative to the project root.
• npm run build:copy-php - builds the code for production and opts into copying all PHP files from the src directory and its subfolders to the output directory. By default, only PHP files listed in the render and variations fields in the detected block.json files get copied.
• npm run build:custom-directory - builds the code for production using the custom-directory as the source code directory.

This script automatically use the optimized config but sometimes you may want to specify some custom options:

• --webpack-bundle-analyzer – enables visualization for the size of webpack output files with an interactive zoomable treemap.
• --webpack-copy-php – enables copying all PHP files from the source directory ( default is src ) and its subfolders to the output directory.
• --webpack-no-externals – disables scripts' assets generation, and omits the list of default externals.
• --webpack-src-dir – Allows customization of the source code directory. Default is src.
• --output-path – Allows customization of the output directory. Default is build.

Experimental support for the block.json viewScriptModule field is available via the --experimental-modules option. With this option enabled, script and module fields will all be compiled. The viewScriptModule field is analogous to the viewScript field, but will compile a module and should be registered in WordPress using the Modules API.

Advanced information

This script uses webpack behind the scenes. It’ll look for a webpack config in the top-level directory of your package and will use it if it finds one. If none is found, it’ll use the default config provided by @wordpress/scripts packages. Learn more in the Advanced Usage section.

build-blocks-manifest

This script generates a PHP file containing block metadata from all block.json files in the project. This is useful for enhancing performance when registering multiple block types, as it allows you to use wp_register_block_metadata_collection() in WordPress.

Usage: wp-scripts build-blocks-manifest [options]

Options:

• --input: Specify the input directory (default: 'build')
• --output: Specify the output file path (default: 'build/blocks-manifest.php')

Example:

wp-scripts build-blocks-manifest --input=src --output=dist/blocks-manifest.php

This command will scan the specified input directory for block.json files, compile their metadata into a single PHP file, and output it to the specified location. You can then use this file with wp_register_block_metadata_collection() in your plugin:

wp_register_block_metadata_collection(
    plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ) . 'dist',
    plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ) . 'dist/blocks-manifest.php'
);

Using this approach can improve performance when registering multiple block types, especially for plugins with several custom blocks. Note that this feature is only available in WordPress 6.7 and later versions.

check-engines

Checks if the current node, npm (or yarn) versions match the given semantic version ranges. If the given version is not satisfied, information about installing the needed version is printed and the program exits with an error code.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"check-engines": "wp-scripts check-engines"
	}
}

This is how you execute the script with presented setup:

• npm run check-engines - checks installed version of node and npm.

Advanced information

It uses check-node-version behind the scenes with the recommended configuration provided. The default requirements are set to the same Node.js and npm versions as listed in the installation section for this package. You can specify your own ranges as described in check-node-version docs. Learn more in the Advanced Usage section.

check-licenses

Validates that all dependencies of a project are compatible with the project’s own license.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"check-licenses": "wp-scripts check-licenses --prod --gpl2 --ignore=abab"
	}
}

Flags:

• --prod (or --production): When present, validates only dependencies and not devDependencies
• --dev (or --development): When present, validates only devDependencies and not dependencies
• --gpl2: Validates against GPLv2 license compatibility
• --ignore=a,b,c: A comma-separated set of package names to ignore for validation. This is intended to be used primarily in cases where a dependency’s license field is malformed. It’s assumed that any ignored package argument would be manually vetted for compatibility by the project owner.

format

It helps to enforce coding style guidelines for your files (enabled by default for JavaScript, JSON, TypeScript, YAML) by formatting source code in a consistent way.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"format": "wp-scripts format",
		"format:src": "wp-scripts format ./src"
	}
}

This is how you execute the script with presented setup:

• npm run format - formats files in the entire project’s directories.
• npm run format:src - formats files in the project’s src subfolder’s directories.

When you run commands similar to the npm run format:src example above, you can provide a file, a directory, or glob syntax or any combination of them.

By default, files located in build, node_modules, and vendor folders are ignored. You can customize the list of ignored files and directories by adding them to a .prettierignore file in your project.

lint-js

Helps enforce coding style guidelines for your JavaScript and TypeScript files.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"lint:js": "wp-scripts lint-js",
		"lint:js:src": "wp-scripts lint-js ./src"
	}
}

This is how you execute the script with presented setup:

• npm run lint:js - lints JavaScript and TypeScript files in the entire project’s directories.
• npm run lint:js:src - lints JavaScript and TypeScript files in the project’s src subfolder’s directories.

When you run commands similar to the npm run lint:js:src example above, you can provide a file, a directory, or glob syntax or any combination of them. See more examples.

By default, files located in build, node_modules, and vendor folders are ignored.

Advanced information

It uses eslint with the set of recommended rules defined in @wordpress/eslint-plugin npm package. You can override default rules with your own as described in eslint docs. Learn more in the Advanced Usage section.

lint-pkg-json

Helps enforce standards for your package.json files.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"lint:pkg-json": "wp-scripts lint-pkg-json",
		"lint:pkg-json:src": "wp-scripts lint-pkg-json ./src"
	}
}

This is how you execute those scripts using the presented setup:

• npm run lint:pkg-json - lints package.json file in the entire project’s directories.
• npm run lint:pkg-json:src - lints package.json file in the project’s src subfolder’s directories.

When you run commands similar to the npm run lint:pkg-json:src example above, you can provide one or multiple directories to scan as well. See more examples.

By default, files located in build, node_modules, and vendor folders are ignored.

Advanced information

It uses npm-package-json-lint with the set of recommended rules defined in @wordpress/npm-package-json-lint-config npm package. You can override default rules with your own as described in npm-package-json-lint wiki. Learn more in the Advanced Usage section.

lint-md-docs

Uses markdownlint to lint the markup of markdown files to enforce standards.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"lint:md:docs": "wp-scripts lint-md-docs"
	}
}

This is how you execute the script with presented setup:

• npm run lint:md:docs - lints markdown files in the entire project’s directories.

By default, files located in build, node_modules, and vendor folders are ignored.

Advanced information

It uses markdownlint with the .markdownlint.json configuration. This configuration tunes the linting rules to match WordPress standard, you can override with your own config, see markdownlint-cli for command-line parameters.

lint-style

Helps enforce coding style guidelines for your style files.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"lint:style": "wp-scripts lint-style",
		"lint:css:src": "wp-scripts lint-style 'src/**/*.css'"
	}
}

This is how you execute the script with presented setup:

• npm run lint:style - lints CSS, PCSS, and SCSS files in the entire project’s directories.
• npm run lint:css:src - lints only CSS files in the project’s src subfolder’s directories.

When you run commands similar to the npm run lint:css:src example above, be sure to include the quotation marks around file globs. This ensures that you can use the powers of globby (like the ** globstar) regardless of your shell. See more examples.

By default, files located in build, node_modules, and vendor folders are ignored.

Advanced information

It uses stylelint with the @wordpress/stylelint-config configuration per the WordPress CSS Coding Standards. You can override them with your own rules as described in stylelint user guide. Learn more in the Advanced Usage section.

packages-update

Updates the WordPress packages used in the project to their latest version.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"packages-update": "wp-scripts packages-update",
		"postpackages-update": "npm run build"
	}
}

This script provides the following custom options:

• --dist-tag – allows specifying a custom dist-tag when updating npm packages. Defaults to latest. This is especially useful when using @wordpress/dependency-extraction-webpack-plugin. It lets installing the npm dependencies at versions used by the given WordPress major version for local testing, etc. Example: wp-scripts packages-update --dist-tag=wp-6.0.

Advanced information

The command detects project dependencies that have name starting with @wordpress/ by scanning the package.json file. By default, it executes npm install @wordpress/package1@latest @wordpress/package2@latest ... --save to change the package versions to the latest one. You can chose a different dist-tag than latest by using the --dist-tag option when running the command.

plugin-zip

Creates a zip file for a WordPress plugin.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"plugin-zip": "wp-scripts plugin-zip"
	}
}

By default, it uses Plugin Handbook best practices to discover files.

Advanced information

In the case where the plugin author wants to customize the files included in the zip file, they can provide the files field in the package.json file as documented in the npm-packlist package, example:

{
	"files": [ "dir" ]
}

It reuses the same logic as npm pack command to create an npm package tarball.

This is how you create a custom root folder inside the zip file.

• When updating a plugin, WordPress expects a folder in the root of the zip file which matches the plugin name. So be aware that this may affect the plugin update process.
• --root-folder - Add a custom root folder to the zip file.
• npm run plugin-zip - By default, unzipping your plugin's zip file will result in a folder with the same name as your plugin.
• npm run plugin-zip --root-folder='custom-directory' - Your plugin's zip file will be unzipped into a folder named custom-directory.
• npm run plugin-zip --no-root-folder - This will create a zip file that has no folder inside, your plugin files will be unzipped directly into the target directory.

start

Transforms your code according the configuration provided so it’s ready for development. The script will automatically rebuild if you make changes to the code, and you will see the build errors in the console.

For single builds, better suited for production, see the build script.

The entry points for your project get detected by scanning all script fields in block.json files located in the src directory. The script fields in block.json should pass relative paths to block.json in the same folder.

Example:

{
	"editorScript": "file:index.js",
	"script": "file:script.js",
	"viewScript": "file:view.js"
}

The fallback entry point is src/index.js (other supported extensions: .jsx, .ts, and .tsx) in case there is no block.json file found. In that scenario, the output generated will be written to build/index.js.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"start": "wp-scripts start",
		"start:hot": "wp-scripts start --hot",
		"start:custom": "wp-scripts start entry-one.js entry-two.js --output-path=custom",
		"start:copy-php": "wp-scripts start --webpack-copy-php",
		"start:custom-directory": "wp-scripts start --webpack-src-dir=custom-directory"
	}
}

This is how you execute the script with presented setup:

• npm start - starts the build for development.
• npm run start:hot - starts the build for development with "Fast Refresh". The page will automatically reload if you make changes to the files.
• npm run start:custom - starts the build for development which contains two entry points and a custom output directory. Paths for custom entry points are relative to the project root.
• npm run start:copy-php - starts the build for development and opts into copying all PHP files from the src directory and its subfolders to the output directory. By default, only PHP files listed in the render and variations fields in the detected block.json files get copied.
• npm run start:custom-directory - builds the code for production using the custom-directory as the source code directory.

This script automatically use the optimized config but sometimes you may want to specify some custom options:

• --hot – enables "Fast Refresh". The page will automatically reload if you make changes to the code. For now, it requires that WordPress has the SCRIPT_DEBUG flag enabled and the Gutenberg plugin installed.
• --no-watch – Starts the build for development without starting the watcher.
• --webpack-bundle-analyzer – enables visualization for the size of webpack output files with an interactive zoomable treemap.
• --webpack-copy-php – enables copying all PHP files from the source directory ( default is src ) and its subfolders to the output directory.
• --webpack-devtool – controls how source maps are generated. See options at https://webpack.js.org/configuration/devtool/#devtool.
• --webpack-no-externals – disables scripts' assets generation, and omits the list of default externals.
• --webpack-src-dir – Allows customization of the source code directory. Default is src.
• --output-path – Allows customization of the output directory. Default is build.

Experimental support for the block.json viewScriptModule field is available via the --experimental-modules option. With this option enabled, script and module fields will all be compiled. The viewScriptModule field is analogous to the viewScript field, but will compile a module and should be registered in WordPress using the Modules API.

Advanced information

This script uses webpack behind the scenes. It’ll look for a webpack config in the top-level directory of your package and will use it if it finds one. If none is found, it’ll use the default config provided by @wordpress/scripts packages. Learn more in the Advanced Usage section.

test-e2e

Launches the End-To-End (E2E) test runner. Writing tests can be done using the Jest API in combination with the Puppeteer API:

> Jest is a delightful JavaScript Testing Framework with a focus on simplicity.

> Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control Chrome or Chromium over the DevTools Protocol. Puppeteer runs headless by default, but can be configured to run full (non-headless) Chrome or Chromium.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"test:e2e": "wp-scripts test-e2e",
		"test:e2e:help": "wp-scripts test-e2e --help",
		"test:e2e:debug": "wp-scripts --inspect-brk test-e2e --puppeteer-devtools"
	}
}

This is how you execute those scripts using the presented setup:

• npm run test:e2e - runs all e2e tests.
• npm run test:e2e:help - prints all available options to configure e2e test runner.
• npm run test:e2e -- --puppeteer-interactive - runs all e2e tests interactively.
• npm run test:e2e FILE_NAME -- --puppeteer-interactive - runs one test file interactively.
• npm run test:e2e:watch -- --puppeteer-interactive - runs all tests interactively and watch for changes.
• npm run test:e2e:debug - runs all tests interactively and enables debugging tests.

Jest will look for test files with any of the following popular naming conventions:

• Files with .js (other supported extensions: .jsx, .ts, and .tsx) suffix at any level of depth in spec folders.
• Files with .spec.js (other supported extensions: .jsx, .ts, and .tsx) suffix.

This script automatically detects the best config to start Puppeteer but sometimes you may need to specify custom options:

• You can add a jest-puppeteer.config.js at the root of the project or define a custom path using JEST_PUPPETEER_CONFIG environment variable. Check jest-puppeteer for more details.

We enforce that all tests run serially in the current process using --runInBand Jest CLI option to avoid conflicts between tests caused by the fact that they share the same WordPress instance.

Failed Test Artifacts

When tests fail, both a screenshot and an HTML snapshot will be taken of the page and stored in the artifacts/ directory at the root of your project. These snapshots may help debug failed tests during development or when running tests in a CI environment.

The artifacts/ directory can be customized by setting the WP_ARTIFACTS_PATH environment variable to the relative path of the desired directory within your project's root. For example: to change the default directory from artifacts/ to my/custom/artifacts, you could use WP_ARTIFACTS_PATH=my/custom/artifacts npm run test:e2e.

Advanced information

It uses Jest behind the scenes and you are able to use all of its CLI options. You can also run ./node_modules/.bin/wp-scripts test:e2e --help or npm run test:e2e:help (as mentioned above) to view all of the available options. Learn more in the Advanced Usage section.

Should there be any situation where you want to provide your own Jest config, you can do so.

• the command receives a --config argument. Example: wp-scripts test-e2e --config my-jest-config.js.
• there is a file called jest-e2e.config.js, jest-e2e.config.json, jest.config.js, or jest.config.json in the top-level directory of your package (at the same level than your package.json).
• a jest object can be provided in the package.json file with the test configuration.

test-unit-js

Alias: test-unit-jest

Launches the unit test runner. Writing tests can be done using the Jest API.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"test:unit": "wp-scripts test-unit-js",
		"test:unit:help": "wp-scripts test-unit-js --help",
		"test:unit:watch": "wp-scripts test-unit-js --watch",
		"test:unit:debug": "wp-scripts --inspect-brk test-unit-js --runInBand --no-cache"
	}
}

This is how you execute those scripts using the presented setup:

• npm run test:unit - runs all unit tests.
• npm run test:unit:help - prints all available options to configure unit tests runner.
• npm run test:unit:watch - runs all unit tests in the watch mode.
• npm run test:unit:debug - runs all unit tests in debug mode.

Jest will look for test files with any of the following popular naming conventions:

• Files with .js (other supported extensions: .jsx, .ts, and .tsx) suffix located at any level of depth in __tests__ folders.
• Files with .js (other supported extensions: .jsx, .ts, and .tsx) suffix directly located in test folders.
• Files with .test.js (other supported extensions: .jsx, .ts, and .tsx) suffix.

Advanced information

It uses Jest behind the scenes and you are able to use all of its CLI options. You can also run ./node_modules/.bin/wp-scripts test:unit --help or npm run test:unit:help (as mentioned above) to view all of the available options. By default, it uses the set of recommended options defined in @wordpress/jest-preset-default npm package. You can override them with your own options as described in Jest documentation. Learn more in the Advanced Usage section.

Should there be any situation where you want to provide your own Jest config, you can do so.

• the command receives a --config argument. Example: wp-scripts test-unit --config my-jest-config.js.
• there is a file called jest-unit.config.js, jest-unit.config.json, jest.config.js, or jest.config.json in the top-level directory of your package (at the same level than your package.json).
• a jest object can be provided in the package.json file with the test configuration.

test-playwright

Launches the Playwright End-To-End (E2E) test runner. Similar to Puppeteer, it provides a high-level API to control a headless browser.

Refer to the Getting Started guide to learn how to write tests.

Example:

{
	"scripts": {
		"test:playwright": "wp-scripts test-playwright",
		"test:playwright:help": "wp-scripts test-playwright --help",
		"test:playwright:debug": "wp-scripts test-playwright --debug"
	}
}

This is how you execute those scripts using the presented setup:

• npm run test:playwright - runs all tests.
• npm run test:playwright:help - prints all available options to configure the test runner.
• npm run test:playwright:debug - runs all tests interactively with the Playwright inspector.
• npm run test:playwright FILE_NAME - runs a specific test file.
• npm run test:playwright -- --watch - runs all tests interactively with watch mode and enhanced debugging.

By default, Playwright looks for JavaScript or TypeScript files with .test or .spec suffix in the project root-level /specs folder, for example /specs/login-screen.wrong-credentials.spec.ts.

This script automatically detects the best config to start Playwright, but sometimes you may need to specify custom options. To do so, you can add a file called playwright.config.ts or playwright.config.js in the top-level directory of your package (at the same level as your package.json).

Failed Test Artifacts

When tests fail, snapshots will be taken of the page and stored in the artifacts/ directory at the root of your project. These snapshots may help debug failed tests during development or when running tests in a CI environment.

The artifacts/ directory can be customized by setting the WP_ARTIFACTS_PATH environment variable to the relative path of the desired directory within your project's root. For example: to change the default directory from artifacts/ to my/custom/artifacts, you could use WP_ARTIFACTS_PATH=my/custom/artifacts npm run test:playwright.

Advanced information

You are able to use all of Playwright's CLI options. You can also run ./node_modules/.bin/wp-scripts test-playwright --help or npm run test:playwright:help (as mentioned above) to view all the available options. Learn more in the Advanced Usage section.

Passing Node.js options

wp-scripts supports the full array of Node.js CLI options. They can be passed after the wp-scripts command and before the script name.

wp-scripts [NODE_OPTIONS] script

Debugging tests

One common use-case for passing Node.js options is debugging your tests.

Tests can be debugged by any inspector client that supports the Chrome DevTools Protocol.

Follow the instructions for debugging Node.js with your favorite supported browser or IDE. When the instructions say to use node --inspect script.js or node --inspect-brk script.js, simply use wp-scripts --inspect script or wp-scripts --inspect-brk script instead.

Google Chrome and Visual Studio Code are used as examples below.

Debugging in Google Chrome

Place debugger; statements in any test and run wp-scripts --inspect-brk test-unit-js --runInBand --no-cache (or npm run test:unit:debug from above).

Then open about:inspect in Google Chrome and select inspect on your process.

A breakpoint will be set at the first line of the script (this is done to give you time to open the developer tools and to prevent Jest from executing before you have time to do so). Click the resume button in the upper right panel of the dev tools to continue execution. When Jest executes the test that contains the debugger statement, execution will pause and you can examine the current scope and call stack.

Debugging in Visual Studio Code

Debugging npm scripts is supported out of the box for Visual Studio Code as of version 1.23 and can be used to debug Jest unit tests.

Make sure wp-scripts --inspect-brk test-unit-js --runInBand --no-cache is saved as test:unit:debug in your package.json file to run tests in Visual Studio Code.

When debugging, set a breakpoint in your tests by clicking on a line in the editor’s left margin by the line numbers.

Then open npm scripts in the explorer or run Explorer: Focus on NPM Scripts View in the command palette to see the npm scripts. To start the tests, click the debug icon next to test:unit:debug.

The tests will start running, and execution will pause on your selected line so you can inspect the current scope and call stack within the editor.

See Debugging in Visual Studio Code for more details on using the Visual Studio Code debugger.

Debugging e2e tests

Since e2e tests run both in the node context and the (usually headless) browser context, not all lines of code can have breakpoints set within the inspector client—only the node context is debugged in the inspector client.

The code executed in the node context includes all of the test files excluding code within page.evaluate functions. The page.evaluate functions and the rest of your app code is executed within the browser context.

Test code (node context) can be debugged normally using the instructions above.

To also debug the browser context, run wp-scripts --inspect-brk test-e2e --puppeteer-devtools. The --puppeteer-devtools option (or the PUPPETEER_DEVTOOLS="true" environment variable when used with PUPPETEER_HEADLESS="false") will disable headless mode and launch the browser with the devtools already open. Breakpoints can then be set in the browser context using these devtools.

For more e2e debugging tips check out the Puppeteer debugging docs.

Advanced Usage

In general, this package should be used with the set of recommended config files. While it’s possible to override every single config file provided, if you have to do it, it means that your use case is far more complicated than anticipated. If that happens, it would be better to avoid using the whole abstraction layer and set up your project with full control over tooling used.

Working with build scripts

The build and start commands use webpack behind the scenes. webpack is a tool that helps you transform your code into something else. For example: it can take code written in ESNext and output ES5 compatible code that is minified for production.

Default webpack config

@wordpress/scripts bundles the default webpack config used as a base by the WordPress editor. These are the defaults:

• Entry: the entry points for your project get detected by scanning all script fields in block.json files located in the src directory. The fallback entry point is src/index.js (other supported extensions: .jsx, .ts, and .tsx) in case there is no block.json file found.
• Output: build/[name].js, for example: build/index.js, or build/my-block/index.js.
• Loaders:
  • babel-loader allows transpiling JavaScript and TypeScript files using Babel and webpack.
  • @svgr/webpack and url-loader makes it possible to handle SVG files in JavaScript code.
  • css-loader chained with postcss-loader and sass-loader let webpack process CSS, SASS or SCSS files referenced in JavaScript files.
• Plugins (among others):
  • CopyWebpackPlugin copies all block.json files discovered in the src directory to the build directory.
  • MiniCssExtractPlugin extracts CSS into separate files. It creates a CSS file per JavaScript entry point which contains CSS.
  • @wordpress/dependency-extraction-webpack-plugin is used with the default configuration to ensure that WordPress provided scripts are not included in the built bundle.

Using CSS

Example:

// index.scss
$body-color: red;

.wp-block-my-block {
	color: $body-color;
}

/* style.css */
.wp-block-my-block {
	background-color: black;
}

// index.js
import './index.pcss';
import './index.scss';
import './style.css';

When you run the build using the default command wp-scripts build (also applies to start) in addition to the JavaScript file index.js generated in the build folder, you should see two more files:

1. index.css – all imported CSS files are bundled into one chunk named after the entry point, which defaults to index.js, and thus the file created becomes index.css. This is for styles used only in the editor.
2. style-index.css – imported style.css file(s) (applies to PCSS, SASS and SCSS extensions) get bundled into one style-index.css file that is meant to be used both on the front-end and in the editor.

You can also have multiple entry points as described in the docs for the script:

wp-scripts start entry-one.js entry-two.js --output-path=custom

If you do so, then CSS files generated will follow the names of the entry points: entry-one.css and entry-two.css.

Avoid using style keyword in an entry point name, this might break your build process.

You can also bundle CSS modules by prefixing .module to the extension, e.g. style.module.scss. Otherwise, these files are handled like all other style.scss. They will also be extracted into style-index.css.

Using fonts and images

It is possible to reference font (woff, woff2, eot, ttf and otf) and image (bmp, png, jpg, jpeg, gif and wepb) files from CSS that is controlled by webpack as explained in the previous section.

Example:

/* style.css */
@font-face {
	font-family: Gilbert;
	src: url( ../assets/gilbert-color.otf );
}
.wp-block-my-block {
	background-color: url( ../assets/block-background.png );
	font-family: Gilbert;
}

Using SVG

Example:

import starUrl, { ReactComponent as Star } from './star.svg';

const App = () => (
	<div>
		<img alt="star" src="{">
		
	</div>
);

Provide your own webpack config

Should there be any situation where you want to provide your own webpack config, you can do so. The build and start commands will use your provided file when:

• the command receives a --config argument. Example: wp-scripts build --config my-own-webpack-config.js.
• there is a file called webpack.config.js or webpack.config.babel.js in the top-level directory of your project (at the same level as package.json).

Extending the webpack config

To extend the provided webpack config, or replace subsections within the provided webpack config, you can provide your own webpack.config.js file, require the provided webpack.config.js file, and use the spread operator to import all of or part of the provided configuration.

In the example below, a webpack.config.js file is added to the root folder extending the provided webpack config to include custom logic to parse module's source and convert it to a JavaScript object using toml. It may be useful to import toml or other non-JSON files as JSON, without specific loaders:

const toml = require( 'toml' );
const defaultConfig = require( '@wordpress/scripts/config/webpack.config' );

module.exports = {
	...defaultConfig,
	module: {
		...defaultConfig.module,
		rules: [
			...defaultConfig.module.rules,
			{
				test: /.toml/,
				type: 'json',
				parser: {
					parse: toml.parse,
				},
			},
		],
	},
};

If you follow this approach, please, be aware that:

• You should keep using the wp-scripts commands (start and build). Do not use webpack directly.
• Future versions of this package may change what webpack and Babel plugins we bundle, default configs, etc. Should those changes be necessary, they will be registered in the package’s CHANGELOG, so make sure to read it before upgrading.

Contributing to this package

This is an individual package that's part of the Gutenberg project. The project is organized as a monorepo. It's made up of multiple self-contained software packages, each with a specific purpose. The packages in this monorepo are published to npm and used by WordPress as well as other software projects.

To find out more about contributing to this package or Gutenberg as a whole, please read the project's main contributor guide.