To run the app:

cd meteor-app
meteor

Note: Until Meteor 1.2 is officially released, we've gotta manually specify for our app to use Meteor 1.2-rc.7 or higher. rocket:module use Meteor 1.2's new Plugin.registerCompiler API, which will be out very soon!

Meteor and rocket:module

Many useful React components and React-related modules are available on NPM, and can be bundled for the client or the server with rocket:module. rocket:module also allows you to write CommonJS, AMD, or ES6 modules. rocket:module can be used for packages too, not just apps, and it will share (as much as possible) NPM dependencies across packages in an app (and the app itself).

Using NPM packages with rocket:module

You can use rocket:module to load NPM modules on the client or the server. Here's how:

1. Add rocket:module

meteor update --release 1.2-rc.7
meteor add rocket:module

Note that the update command is only temporary until Meteor 1.2 is released.

2. Add the NPM packages that you want to npm.json

Create an npm.json file in your app or package that specifies the dependencies you'd like from NPM. In most cases, you should leave the carrot (^) in front of the version number to ensure that the most compatible versions of your dependencies can be found. If you need more control of the versions in your package for whatever reason, you can (but try to avoid) plucking the carrot.

If you're making a package, be sure to add your npm.json file via api.addFiles().

/path/to/your/app/npm.json

{
  "react": "^0.13.1",
  "famous": "^0.7.0",
  "async": "^1.4.0"
}

3. Write code with ES6, CommonJS, or AMD modules.

rocket:module handles all the JavaScript files in your app. JavaScript files that end with .entry.js or are entirely named "entry.js" are entry points into your application. You'll need at least one entrypoint file. In each entrypoint you can begin importing whatever you need, like in the following ES6 examples:

/path/to/your/app/entry.js

import React from 'react'
import Node  from 'famous/core/Node'
import async from 'async'

...

or

/path/to/your/app/main.entry.js

import React from 'react'
import Node  from 'famous/core/Node'
import async from 'async'

...

Note, these last two entry point examples would run on boths sides, the client and the server.

Use CommonJS module syntax if you feel more comfortable with that:

/path/to/your/app/server/entry.js

let React = require('react')
let Node  = require('famous/core/Node')
let async = require('async')

...

Heck. If you really like AMD, use it:

/path/to/your/app/server/entry.js

define([
    'react',
    'famous/core/Node',
    'async',
], function(
    React,
    Node,
    async,
) {
    ...
})

You've just imported React, Famous, and async from NPM.

Note, rocket:module works on both sides, client and server! The last two entry point examples run on the server because they're in a server folder. Now that's something to feel good about.

You can also import local files!

/path/to/your/app/client/entry.js

import somethingLocal from './path/to/local/file'

...

Note, this last one loads on the client only because it's in a client folder.

That's basically it! See the example app for an actual example. See the example package to learn how to use rocket:module in a Meteor package.

Module load order

All your entrypoint files load in the same order as normal files would, based on Meteor's load order rules.

Note that Meteor's load order rules don't apply to any files that you've ever imported or required into any other file. In this case, the order is defined by you, and loading starts from your entrypoint files. Imported or required files are completely ignored by Meteor's load order mechanism.

Files that are not entrypoint files and that are never imported into any other file are ignored by rocket:module. Those files are handled exclusively by Meteor's load order mechanism, not by rocket:module.

Caveats

If you make a change to npm.json, the server will reload as expected, but will fail to update your NPM dependencies. This will be fixed in rocket:module v1.0.0.

You may experience a build delay (sometimes around a minute long) due to a possible bug in the release candidate of Meteor. I hope we can get to the bottom of it soon. See meteor/meteor#5067.

Future improvements

• rocket:module will have a cache before reaching 1.0.0. Until then, your app may take a long time to build if you've got lots of files. Added in rocket:module v0.8.1.
• Some more speed improvements around NPM package handling.
• Version 1.0.0 of rocket:module will handle source maps.
• Fix npm.json live reload.
• Cross-package imports/exports (ES6, CommonJS, or AMD).