Should default to index.html, or show an error

[raould]

🙋 feature request

🤔 Expected Behavior

parcel should default to using index.html, or error out.

😯 Current Behavior

1. I have a project with index.html
2. I type "parcel" not "parcel index.html"
3. parcel starts up happily
4. but when i load the site, i get nothing.

Expected

1. I have a project with index.html
2. I type "parcel" not "parcel index.html"

either

• parcel starts up happily by using index.html by default.
  or
• parcel throws an error.

[DeMoorJasper]

Parcel currently looks at the main in pkg.json if using parcel.

We could however do a glob for index and use the first one it finds. Downside of this is it's pretty unpredictable. If you'd add a CSS file named index in the same folder it would bundle that instead of HTML

[raould]

I suggest just erroring if there's no explicit "instructions" either on the command line or through pkg.json (which i have never had). The situation where I do have index.html but I just run "parcel" with no arguments, and it /looks/ like it has started up, but kinda is not doing what I want, it sorta too confusing of a ux in my mind.

[DeMoorJasper]

An error message seems like a good idea

[rajikaimal]

Hi, I can look into this

[DeMoorJasper]

@rajikaimal great, let us know if you need any guidance or help :)

[rajikaimal]

Can you mention where the logic related to finding the main script in pkg.json resides?

[DeMoorJasper]

@rajikaimal

These are the locations it uses to resolve entries
https://github.com/parcel-bundler/parcel/blob/master/src/Bundler.js#L82
https://github.com/parcel-bundler/parcel/blob/master/src/Bundler.js#L243
https://github.com/parcel-bundler/parcel/blob/master/src/Bundler.js#L393

[rajikaimal]

Hope this creates the intended behavior :)