vite-plugin-external

Excludes specified module dependencies from runtime code and built bundles. Vite >= 3.1

Documentation

For detailed usage instructions and API references, please visit the official documentation:

👉 View Full Documentation

Quick Start

Build iife format bundle

import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
import pluginExternal from 'vite-plugin-external';

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    pluginExternal({
      externals: {
        jquery: '$',

        vue: 'Vue',

        react: 'React',
        'react-dom/client': 'ReactDOM'
      }
    })
  ],
  build: {
    rollupOptions: {
      output: {
        format: 'iife',
      },
    },
  }
});

Dynamic set externals

import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react';
import pluginExternal from 'vite-plugin-external';

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    react({
      jsxRuntime: 'classic',
    }),
    pluginExternal({
      externals(libName) {
        if (libName === 'react') {
          return 'React';
        }
        if (libName === 'react-dom/client') {
          return 'ReactDOM';
        }
      }
    })
  ],
  build: {
    rollupOptions: {
      output: {
        format: 'iife',
      },
    },
  }
});

Build esm format bundle

import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react';
import pluginExternal from 'vite-plugin-external';

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    react({
      jsxRuntime: 'classic',
    }),
    pluginExternal({
      externals: {
        react: 'https://esm.sh/react@18.3.1',
        'react-dom/client': 'https://esm.sh/react-dom@18.3.1'
      }
    })
  ]
});

Changelog

• 6.2.0

  • Support links to external resources

• 6.1.0

  • Reimplemented external plugin logic for Vite 6.x compatibility
  • Added optional rollback parameter to revert to previous implementation
  • Added optional logLevel parameter to control logging level (values: "TRACE" | "DEBUG" | "INFO" | "WARN" | "ERROR" | "FATAL" | "OFF")
  • Support to set externals as a function

• 6.0.0

  • Added optional externalGlobals parameter to fix issue rollup#3188

• 4.3.1

  • externalizeDeps configuration supports regex patterns

• 4.3.0

  • Previous mode: false logic replaced with interop: 'auto'
  • Added nodeBuiltins and externalizeDeps configurations for Node module bundling

Q&A

• Q: Page cannot load after modifying externals
• A: The previous dependencies are cached by Vite, you need to manually delete the ./node_modules/.vite/deps folder

Contributing

We welcome contributions from the community! If you find a bug or want to suggest an improvement, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

How to Contribute

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch for your changes.
3. Submit a pull request with a clear description of your changes.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.