We very recently finished migrating our front-end build process to Webpack. As with any reasonably sized codebase, it's always a little more complex than the 3 line examples in how-to guides. This post will list some of the higher-level things I learned during this undertaking, the next one in the Webpack Series will detail some specific quirks and solutions.
Resources
I was largely able to do this by leveraging the hard work of some clever heroes. This very conveniently timed blog post covered a lot of what was needed. JLongster also has some very good tips, helpful for more than just backend apps. Regarding documentation, the widely-cited Webpack How-to gives a pretty concise overview of most things you will need. And of course, the docs have a lot of information. Sometimes too much. But usually most things you need are listed there. Occasionally something isn't, which brings me to lesson one.
Lesson 1: cd node_modules
One of the biggest things I learned in this undertaking isn't limited just to Webpack, and helped fix a few other things. Previously I had treated the node_modules folder as a black box - just npm install and be on my way. This is fine for everyday usage, but when you hit barriers or bugs sometimes you need to do some digging. Rather than throwing random inputs at a black box to measure the effect, you can just crack it open.
A good example of this is the CommonsChunkPlugin, which is documented thusly:
