Webpack-dev-server compiles files but does not refresh or make compiled javascript available to browser

Question

I\'m trying to use webpack-dev-server to compile files and start up a dev web server.

In my package.json I have the script property set to:

Answer 1

I'll add my own special tale of Webpack --watch woe to the wall of suffering here.

I was running

webpack --watch

in order to build a Typescript project. The compiled .js files would update, but the bundle that the browser was seeing would not. So I was basically in the same position as the OP.

My problem came down to the watchOptions.ignored parameter. The original author of the build config had set up ignored as a filter function, which turns out to not be a valid value for that parameter. Replacing the filter function with an appropriate RegExp got the --watch build working again for me.

Answer 2

After a long search I found the solution for my problem, in my case output path wasn't configured correctly.

This configuration solved my problem:

const path = require('path');

module.exports = {
  "entry": ['./app/index.js'],
  "output": {
    path: path.join(__dirname, 'build'),
    publicPath: "/build/",
    "filename": "bundle.js"
  }....

Answer 3

the right solution

Tell dev-server to watch the files served by the devServer.watchContentBase option.

It is disabled by default.

When enabled, file changes will trigger a full page reload.

Example:

module.exports = {
  //...
  devServer: {
    // ...
    watchContentBase: true
  }
};

Answer 4

It can happen because of ExtractTextPlugin. Deactive the ExtractTextPlugin in development mode. Use it only for production build.

Answer 5

Somehow, for my case, removing "--hot" makes it work. So, I removed hot: true

webpack.dev.js

module.exports = merge(common, {
  mode: 'development',
  devtool: 'inline-source-map',
  devServer: {
    publicPath: '/js/',
    contentBase: path.resolve(__dirname, 'docs'),
    watchContentBase: true,
  }
});

webpack.common.js

  output: {
    path: path.resolve(__dirname, 'docs/js'),
    filename: '[name].min.js',
    library: ['[name]']
  },

Answer 6

My case was that I got so deep into experimenting with Webpack features, but totally forgot that I had set inject to be false the entire time like so...

 new HTMLWebpackPlugin({
        inject: false,
        ...
 }),

Switching that on was my ticket.