Vite Has a Free Build Tool — 100x Faster Than Webpack

Vite uses native ES modules in dev and Rollup for production. Dev server starts instantly regardless of project size.

Why Webpack Lost

Webpack bundles everything before serving. A large project: 30-60 seconds to start dev server. Change one file: 2-10 seconds HMR.

Vite: dev server starts in <300ms. HMR in <50ms. Any project size.

How It Works

Development: Vite serves source files as native ES modules. The browser does the importing. Only files you actually visit get transformed.

Production: Rollup bundles everything with tree-shaking, code splitting, and minification.

This split is why Vite is fast in dev AND produces optimized production builds.

What You Get for Free

Instant server start — no bundling, no waiting
Lightning HMR — <50ms regardless of app size
TypeScript — esbuild transforms TS 20-30x faster than tsc
CSS modules, PostCSS, Sass — built-in, no config
JSON, WASM, Web Workers — import natively
Multi-framework — React, Vue, Svelte, Preact, Lit, Solid
Environment variables — .env files out of the box
SSR support — server-side rendering primitives

Quick Start

npm create vite@latest my-app -- --template react-ts
cd my-app
npm install
npm run dev

Templates: react, react-ts, vue, vue-ts, svelte, svelte-ts, preact, lit, solid.

Config (Minimal)

// vite.config.ts — often you don't need this at all
import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react';

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [react()],
});

That's the entire config for a React project with TypeScript, HMR, and production builds.

Ecosystem

Vite powers: Nuxt 3, SvelteKit, Astro, Remix, Vitest, Storybook 7+, Angular CLI (experimental).

The plugin ecosystem has 600+ plugins for every use case.

If you're still on webpack or Create React App — migrating to Vite takes 15 minutes and changes everything.

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