html-webpack-plugin Documentation

Simplifies creation of HTML files to serve your webpack bundles

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Technical Documentation: jantimon/html-webpack-plugin

ℹ️ Provenance: Multi-Tier Ingestion · CodeWiki Reference

Overview (`README.md`)

npm
node

tests

HTML Webpack Plugin

Plugin that simplifies creation of HTML files to serve your bundles

[!WARNING]

html-webpack-plugin is deprecated — webpack scaffolds the HTML around your bundles itself and no longer needs it.

Read the Native HTML guide and follow its migration guide.

Existing setups keep working: webpack only emits a page when you ask for one with output.html, so this plugin keeps owning your HTML until you migrate.

Install

Webpack 5

bash
npm i --save-dev html-webpack-plugin
bash
yarn add --dev html-webpack-plugin

Webpack 4

bash
npm i --save-dev html-webpack-plugin@4
bash
yarn add --dev html-webpack-plugin@4

This is a webpack plugin that simplifies creation of HTML files to serve your webpack bundles. This is especially useful for webpack bundles that include a hash in the filename which changes every compilation. You can either let the plugin generate an HTML file for you, supply
your own template using lodash templates or use your own loader.

Sponsors










Thanks for supporting the ongoing improvements to the html-webpack-plugin!

Zero Config

The html-webpack-plugin works without configuration.
It's a great addition to the ⚙️ webpack-config-plugins.

Plugins

The html-webpack-plugin provides hooks to extend it to your needs. There are already some really powerful plugins which can be integrated with zero configuration

Usage

The plugin will generate an HTML5 file for you that includes all your webpack
bundles in the head using script tags. Just add the plugin to your webpack
config as follows:

webpack.config.js

js
const HtmlWebpackPlugin = require("html-webpack-plugin");

module.exports = {
  entry: "index.js",
  output: {
    path: __dirname + "/dist",
    filename: "index_bundle.js",
  },
  plugins: [new HtmlWebpackPlugin()],
};

This will generate a file dist/index.html containing the following

html
<!doctype html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <title>Webpack App</title>
    <script defer src="index_bundle.js"></script>
  </head>
  <body></body>
</html>

If you have multiple webpack entry points, they will all be included with script tags in the generated HTML.

If you have any CSS assets in webpack's output (for example, CSS extracted with the mini-css-extract-plugin)
then these will be included with <link> tags in the HTML head.

If you have plugins that make use of it, html-webpack-plugin should be ordered first before any of the integrated Plugins.

Options

You can pass a hash of configuration options to html-webpack-plugin.
Allowed values are as follows:

Name Type Default Description
title {String} Webpack App The title to use for the generated HTML document
filename {String|Function} 'index.html' The file to write the HTML to. Defaults to index.html. You can specify a subdirectory here too (eg: assets/admin.html). The [name] placeholder will be replaced with the entry name. Can also be a function e.g. (entryName) => entryName + '.html'.
template {String} `` webpack relative or absolute path to the template. By default it will use src/index.ejs if it exists. Please see the docs for details
templateContent {string|Function|false} false Can be used instead of template to provide an inline template - please read the Writing Your Own Templates section
templateParameters {Boolean|Object|Function} false Allows to overwrite the parameters used in the template - see example
inject {Boolean|String} true true || 'head' || 'body' || false Inject all assets into the given template or templateContent. When passing 'body' all javascript resources will be placed at the bottom of the body element. 'head' will place the scripts in the head element. Passing true will add it to the head/body depending on the scriptLoading option. Passing false will disable automatic injections. - see the inject:false example
publicPath {String|'auto'} 'auto' The publicPath used for script and link tags
scriptLoading {'blocking'|'defer'|'module'|'systemjs-module'} 'defer' Modern browsers support non blocking javascript loading ('defer') to improve the page startup performance. Setting to 'module' adds attribute type="module". This also implies "defer", since modules are automatically deferred.
favicon {String} `` Adds the given favicon path to the output HTML
meta {Object} {} Allows to inject meta-tags. E.g. meta: {viewport: 'width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no'}
base {Object|String|false} false Inject a base tag. E.g. base: "https://example.com/path/page.html
minify {Boolean|Object} true if mode is 'production', otherwise false Controls if and in what ways the output should be minified. See minification below for more details.
hash {Boolean} false If true then append a unique webpack compilation hash to all included scripts and CSS files (i.e. main.js?hash=compilation_hash). This is useful for cache busting
cache {Boolean} true Emit the file only if it was changed
showErrors {Boolean} true Errors details will be written into the HTML page
chunks {?} ? Allows you to add only some chunks (e.g only the unit-test chunk)
chunksSortMode {String|Function} auto Allows to control how chunks should be sorted before they are included to the HTML. Allowed values are 'none' | 'auto' | 'manual' | {Function}
excludeChunks {Array.<string>} `` Allows you to skip some chunks (e.g don't add the unit-test chunk)
xhtml {Boolean} false If true render the link tags as self-closing (XHTML compliant)

Here's an example webpack config illustrating how to use these options

webpack.config.js

js
{
  entry: 'index.js',
  output: {
    path: __dirname + '/dist',
    filename: 'index_bundle.js'
  },
  plugins: [
    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
      title: 'My App',
      filename: 'assets/admin.html'
    })
  ]
}

Generating Multiple HTML Files

To generate more than one HTML file, declare the plugin more than
once in your plugins array

webpack.config.js

js
{
  entry: 'index.js',
  output: {
    path: __dirname + '/dist',
    filename: 'index_bundle.js'
  },
  plugins: [
    new HtmlWebpackPlugin(), // Generates default index.html
    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({  // Also generate a test.html
      filename: 'test.html',
      template: 'src/assets/test.html'
    })
  ]
}

Writing Your Own Templates

If the default generated HTML doesn't meet your needs you can supply
your own template. The easiest way is to use the template option and pass a custom HTML file.
The html-webpack-plugin will automatically inject all necessary CSS, JS, manifest
and favicon files into the markup.

Details of other template loaders are documented here.

js
plugins: [
  new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
    title: "Custom template",
    // Load a custom template (lodash by default)
    template: "index.html",
  }),
];

index.html

html
<!doctype html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <title><%= htmlWebpackPlugin.options.title %></title>
  </head>
  <body></body>
</html>

If you already have a template loader, you can use it to parse the template.
Please note that this will also happen if you specify the html-loader and use .html file as template.

webpack.config.js

js
module: {
  loaders: [
    { test: /\.hbs$/, loader: "handlebars-loader" }
  ]
},
plugins: [
  new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
    title: 'Custom template using Handlebars',
    template: 'index.hbs'
  })
]

You can use the lodash syntax out of the box. If the inject feature doesn't fit your needs and you want full control over the asset placement use the default template of the html-webpack-template project as a starting point for writing your own.

The following variables are available in the template by default (you can extend them using the templateParameters option):

  • htmlWebpackPlugin: data specific to this plugin

    • htmlWebpackPlugin.options: the options hash that was passed to
      the plugin. In addition to the options actually used by this plugin,
      you can use this hash to pass arbitrary data through to your template.

    • htmlWebpackPlugin.tags: the prepared headTags and bodyTags Array to render the ``, <meta>, <script> and <link> tags.
      Can be used directly in templates and literals. For example:

      html
      <html>
  <head>
    <%= htmlWebpackPlugin.tags.headTags %>
  </head>
  <body>
    <%= htmlWebpackPlugin.tags.bodyTags %>
  </body>
</html>

    • htmlWebpackPlugin.files: direct access to the files used during the compilation.

      typescript
      publicPath: string;
js: string[];
css: string[];
manifest?: string;
favicon?: string;

  • webpackConfig: the webpack configuration that was used for this compilation. This
    can be used, for example, to get the publicPath (webpackConfig.output.publicPath).

  • compilation: the webpack compilation object.
    This can be used, for example, to get the contents of processed assets and inline them
    directly in the page, through compilation.assets[...].source()
    (see the inline template example).

The template can also be directly inlined directly into the options object.
⚠️ templateContent does not allow to use webpack loaders for your template and will not watch for template file changes

webpack.config.js

js
new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
  templateContent: `
    <html>
      <body>
        <h1>Hello World</h1>
      </body>
    </html>
  `,
});

The templateContent can also access all templateParameters values.
⚠️ templateContent does not allow to use webpack loaders for your template and will not watch for template file changes

webpack.config.js

js
new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
  inject: false,
  templateContent: ({ htmlWebpackPlugin }) => `
    <html>
      <head>
        ${htmlWebpackPlugin.tags.headTags}
      </head>
      <body>
        <h1>Hello World</h1>
        ${htmlWebpackPlugin.tags.bodyTags}
      </body>
    </html>
  `,
});

Filtering Chunks

To include only certain chunks you can limit the chunks being used

webpack.config.js

js
plugins: [
  new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
    chunks: ["app"],
  }),
];

It is also possible to exclude certain chunks by setting the excludeChunks option

webpack.config.js

js
plugins: [
  new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
    excludeChunks: ["dev-helper"],
  }),
];

Minification

If the minify option is set to true (the default when webpack's mode is 'production'),
the generated HTML will be minified using html-minifier-terser
and the following options:

js
{
  collapseWhitespace: true,
  keepClosingSlash: true,
  removeComments: true,
  removeRedundantAttributes: true,
  removeScriptTypeAttributes: true,
  removeStyleLinkTypeAttributes: true,
  useShortDoctype: true
}

To use custom html-minifier options
pass an object to minify instead. This object will not be merged with the defaults above.

To disable minification during production mode set the minify option to false.

Meta Tags

If the meta option is set the html-webpack-plugin will inject meta tags.
For the default template the html-webpack-plugin will already provide a default for the viewport meta tag.

Please take a look at this well maintained list of almost all possible meta tags.

name/content meta tags

Most meta tags are configured by setting a name and a content attribute.
To add those use a key/value pair:

webpack.config.js

js
plugins: [
  new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
    meta: {
      viewport: "width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no",
      // Will generate: <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no">
      "theme-color": "#4285f4",
      // Will generate: <meta name="theme-color" content="#4285f4">
    },
  }),
];

Simulate http response headers

The http-equiv attribute is essentially used to simulate a HTTP response header.
This format is supported using an object notation which allows you to add any attribute:

webpack.config.js

js
plugins: [
  new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
    meta: {
      "Content-Security-Policy": {
        "http-equiv": "Content-Security-Policy",
        content: "default-src https:",
      },
      // Will generate: <meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src https:">
      // Which equals to the following http header: `Content-Security-Policy: default-src https:`
      "set-cookie": {
        "http-equiv": "set-cookie",
        content: "name=value; expires=date; path=url",
      },
      // Will generate: <meta http-equiv="set-cookie" content="value; expires=date; path=url">
      // Which equals to the following http header: `set-cookie: value; expires=date; path=url`
    },
  }),
];

Base Tag

When the base option is used,
html-webpack-plugin will inject a base tag.
By default, a base tag will not be injected.

The following two are identical and will both insert ``:

js
new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
  base: "http://example.com/some/page.html",
});
js
new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
  base: { href: "http://example.com/some/page.html" },
});

The target can be specified with the corresponding key:

js
new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
  base: {
    href: "http://example.com/some/page.html",
    target: "_blank",
  },
});

which will inject the element ``.

Long Term Caching

For long term caching add contenthash to the filename.

Example:

js
plugins: [
  new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
    filename: "index.[contenthash].html",
  }),
];

contenthash is the hash of the content of the output file.

Refer webpack's Template Strings for more details

Events

To allow other plugins to alter the HTML this plugin executes
tapable hooks.

The lib/hooks.js contains all information
about which values are passed.

`beforeAssetTagGeneration` hook

text
AsyncSeriesWaterfallHook<{
      assets: {
        publicPath: string,
        js: Array<{string}>,
        css: Array<{string}>,
        favicon?: string | undefined,
        manifest?: string | undefined
      },
      outputName: string,
      plugin: HtmlWebpackPlugin
    }>

`alterAssetTags` hook

text
AsyncSeriesWaterfallHook<{
      assetTags: {
        scripts: Array<HtmlTagObject>,
        styles: Array<HtmlTagObject>,
        meta: Array<HtmlTagObject>,
      },
      publicPath: string,
      outputName: string,
      plugin: HtmlWebpackPlugin
    }>

`alterAssetTagGroups` hook

text
AsyncSeriesWaterfallHook<{
      headTags: Array<HtmlTagObject | HtmlTagObject>,
      bodyTags: Array<HtmlTagObject | HtmlTagObject>,
      publicPath: string,
      outputName: string,
      plugin: HtmlWebpackPlugin
    }>

`afterTemplateExecution` hook

text
AsyncSeriesWaterfallHook<{
      html: string,
      headTags: Array<HtmlTagObject | HtmlTagObject>,
      bodyTags: Array<HtmlTagObject | HtmlTagObject>,
      outputName: string,
      plugin: HtmlWebpackPlugin,
    }>

`beforeEmit` hook

text
AsyncSeriesWaterfallHook<{
      html: string,
      outputName: string,
      plugin: HtmlWebpackPlugin,
    }>

`afterEmit` hook

text
AsyncSeriesWaterfallHook<{
      outputName: string,
      plugin: HtmlWebpackPlugin
    }>

Example implementation: webpack-subresource-integrity

plugin.js

js
// If your plugin is direct dependent to the html webpack plugin:
const HtmlWebpackPlugin = require("html-webpack-plugin");
// If your plugin is using html-webpack-plugin as an optional dependency
// you can use https://github.com/tallesl/node-safe-require instead:
const HtmlWebpackPlugin = require("safe-require")("html-webpack-plugin");

class MyPlugin {
  apply(compiler) {
    compiler.hooks.compilation.tap("MyPlugin", (compilation) => {
      console.log("The compiler is starting a new compilation...");

      // Static Plugin interface |compilation |HOOK NAME | register listener
      HtmlWebpackPlugin.getCompilationHooks(compilation).beforeEmit.tapAsync(
        "MyPlugin", // <-- Set a meaningful name here for stacktraces
        (data, cb) => {
          // Manipulate the content
          data.html += "The Magic Footer";
          // Tell webpack to move on
          cb(null, data);
        },
      );
    });
  }
}

module.exports = MyPlugin;

webpack.config.js

js
plugins: [new MyPlugin({ options: "" })];

Note that the callback must be passed the HtmlWebpackPluginData in order to pass this onto any other plugins listening on the same beforeEmit event

Maintainers

Jan Nicklas Thomas Sileghem

Backers

Thank you to all our backers!
If you want to support the project as well become a sponsor or a a backer.










Contributors

This project exists thanks to all the people who contribute.

You're free to contribute to this project by submitting issues and/or pull requests. This project is test-driven, so keep in mind that every change and new feature should be covered by tests.

Overview (`examples/README.md`)

Examples

A collection of repositories or pages using html-webpack-plugin.

Example Link
Appcache appcache
Chunk Optimization chunk-optimization
Custom Template custom-template
Custom Script / Link tag position custom-insertion-point
Default default
Favicon favicon
Html Loader html-loader
Inline inline
Javascript-advanced javascript-advanced
Javascript javascript
Pug Loader pug-loader
Sort Manually sort-manually
Template Parameters template-parameters

Overview (`examples/chunk-optimization/readme.md`)

zero-config example

in this example only the default configuration is used

Overview (`examples/custom-insertion-position/readme.md`)

custom insertion example

This example shows how you can define the position where the scripts are injected
by setting inject:false and using the template parameters inside the index.ejs

The example is using the template parameters headTags and bodyTags

text
<%= htmlWebpackPlugin.tags.headTags %>
<%= htmlWebpackPlugin.tags.bodyTags %>

headTags and bodyTags are arrays so you can use any Array.prototype function like filter:

text
<%= htmlWebpackPlugin
  .tags
  .headTags
  .filter((tag) => tag.tagName === 'meta')
  .join('')
%>

For further information about the tag object take a look at the createHtmlTagObject inside lib/html-tags.js or at the prepareAssetTagGroupForRendering inside index.js.

Overview (`examples/custom-template/readme.md`)

custom template

This example uses a custom underscore template which inlines an partial using the html-loader:
<%= require('html-loader!./partial.html').default %>

Overview (`examples/default/readme.md`)

zero-config example

in this example only the default configuration is used

Overview (`examples/inline/readme.md`)

isomorphic pug example

This example shows how to use a different template engine (in this case pug)
to load the time.pug template on the backend and frontend.

Overview (`examples/javascript-advanced/readme.md`)

isomorphic javascript-advanced example

This example is similar to the javascript example however it allows takes
parameters from the config and works asynchronously

Overview (`examples/javascript/readme.md`)

isomorphic javascript example

This example shows how to generate a template on the fly using javascript.

The best way to debug the compilation result is devTool:eval

Overview (`examples/multi-page/readme.md`)

zero-config example

in this example only the default configuration is used

Overview (`examples/pug-loader/readme.md`)

isomorphic pug example

This example shows how to use a different template engine (in this case pug)
to load the time.pug template on the backend and frontend.

Overview (`examples/template-parameters/readme.md`)

template parameters example

This example shows how you can overwrite the built in template parameters

Template Option (`docs/template-option.md`)

The template option

History

The version 2.x which was introduced 2015 changed the way the template is processed.
Instead of forcing all users to use the blueimp template engine it allowed to use any webpack loader:

Under the hood it is using a webpack child compilation which inherits all loaders from
your main configuration.

There are three ways to set the loader:

1) Don't set any loader

By default (if you don't specify any loader in any way) a fallback ejs loader kicks in.
Please note that this loader does not support the full ejs syntax as it is based on lodash template.

js
{
  plugins: [
    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
      template: "src/index.html",
    }),
  ];
}

Be aware, using .html as your template extension may unexpectedly trigger another loader.

2) Setting a loader directly for the template

js
new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
  // For details on `!!` see https://webpack.js.org/concepts/loaders/#inline
  template: "!!handlebars-loader!src/index.hbs",
});

3) Setting a loader using the `module.rules` syntax

js
{
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /\.hbs$/,
        loader: 'handlebars-loader'
      },
    ]
  },
  plugins: [
    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
      template: 'src/index.hbs'
    })
  ]
}

However this also means that in the following example webpack will use the html loader for your template.
This will cause html minification and it will also disable the ejs/lodash fallback loader.

js
{
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /\.html$/,
        loader: 'html-loader'
      }],
  },
  plugins: [
    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
      template: 'src/index.html'
    })
  ]
}

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