DEV Community

akinloludavid
akinloludavid

Posted on • Edited on

How I reduced my app size from 14mb to 600kb

I was working on a frontend project some months ago. The project was a microfrontend that was meant to be integrated on a legacy dashboard.

The reason for the microfrontend approach was to reduce the complexity on the dashboard. I was excited at this challenge and I plunged into it.

I setup the microfrontend using webpack, react and typescript. I used chakra ui as the CSS-IN-JS framework, axios for API integration and everything worked fine. However, the build size of the project was about 14mb. For a microfrontend, that was ridiculously large. This led to a very slow page response in the dashboard where it was integrated. So I was presented with a new challenge to optimize the build.

I thought the build was that large because I used a CSS-IN-JS framework for the styling. So I refactored the entire codebase from chakra-ui to sass. Guess what, the build size increased from 14mb to about 21mb 😂😂.

That was when I knew that the issue is not about the css library or the code but about the webpack config. I started a lot of trial and error with the webpack config. I then discovered that when I removed the devtool, the build size went from 14mb to about 600kb. Then I checked the webpack documentation about devtool. I realized it is not compulsory. More info here:.

Here's a sneak peek into my webpack config

module.exports = merge(common, {
  name: "client",
  mode: process.env.NODE_ENV,
  devtool: "eval-source-map", //remove devtool
  entry: {
    "microfrontend": "./src/bootstrap.tsx",
  },
  output: {
    path: path.resolve(__dirname, "../dist"),
    filename: "[name]_[hash].js",
    pathinfo: false,
    publicPath: 'http://localhost:6001/',
  },
  ...
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

In summary, the solution to the problem I encountered was fixed by just removing one line of code.

module.exports = merge(common, {
  name: "client",
  mode: process.env.NODE_ENV,
  entry: {
    "microfrontend": "./src/bootstrap.tsx",
  },
  output: {
    path: path.resolve(__dirname, "../dist"),
    filename: "[name]_[hash].js",
    pathinfo: false,
    publicPath: 'http://localhost:6001/',
  },
  ...
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Thanks for reading. I hope you find this helpful.

Image of Datadog

The Essential Toolkit for Front-end Developers

Take a user-centric approach to front-end monitoring that evolves alongside increasingly complex frameworks and single-page applications.

Get The Kit

Top comments (0)

Image of Docusign

🛠️ Bring your solution into Docusign. Reach over 1.6M customers.

Docusign is now extensible. Overcome challenges with disconnected products and inaccessible data by bringing your solutions into Docusign and publishing to 1.6M customers in the App Center.

Learn more