Webpack-dev-server with bypass proxy

Question

How to achieve a 'proxy' (similar to grunt-connect-proxy) option with webpack-dev-server ?

I am using webpack and webpack-dev-server with Grunt. A task in Gruntfile.js (below code) is able to start the server on port 8080. I want to add proxy setup for all the backend data requests (context URL /ajax/*).

       "webpack-dev-server": {
        options: {
            webpack: webpackConfig,
            publicPath: "/src/assets"
        },
        start: {
            keepAlive: true,
            watch: true              
        }
    } 

Answer 1

Webpack dev server proxy api has been changed since v1.15

https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/issues/562

glob * should be ** to proxy all request

  devServer: {
    proxy: {
      '**': 'http://local.ui.steelhouse.com/'
    },
  }

Answer 2

In the webpack config, you can use devServer.proxy like this:

proxy: {
    '/ajax/*': 'http://your.backend/'
}

Answer 3

webpack-dev-server didn't know how to deal with your content, so it has a config which can proxy all your request to specific server handle content.

for example:

you should run 'grunt content' to start your content server then run 'grunt serve' to start develop

'use strict';

var webpackDistConfig = require('./webpack.dist.config.js'),
    webpackDevConfig = require('./webpack.config.js');

var mountFolder = function (connect, dir) {
   return connect.static(require('path').resolve(dir));
};

module.exports = function (grunt) {
  // Let *load-grunt-tasks* require everything
  require('load-grunt-tasks')(grunt);

  // Read configuration from package.json
  var pkgConfig = grunt.file.readJSON('package.json');

  grunt.initConfig({
    pkg: pkgConfig,

    webpack: {
      options: webpackDistConfig,

      dist: {
        cache: false
      }
    },

    'webpack-dev-server': {
      options: {
        hot: true,
        port: 8000,
        webpack: webpackDevConfig,
        publicPath: '/assets/',
        contentBase: {target : 'http://localhost:13800'},
      },

      start: {
        keepAlive: true,
      }
    },

    connect: {
      options: {
        port: 8000,
        keepalive: true,
      },
      proxies: [
        {
          context: '/',
          host: '127.0.0.1',
          port: 8031,
          https: false,
          xforward: false
        }
      ],
      dev: {
        options: {
          port : 13800,
          middleware: function (connect) {
            return [
              mountFolder(connect, pkgConfig.src),
              require('grunt-connect-proxy/lib/utils').proxyRequest
            ];
          }
        }
      },
      dist: {
        options: {
          middleware: function (connect) {
            return [
              mountFolder(connect, pkgConfig.dist),
              require('grunt-connect-proxy/lib/utils').proxyRequest
            ];
          }
        }
      }
    },

    open: {
      options: {
        delay: 500
      },
      dev: {
        path: 'http://localhost:<%= connect.options.port %>/webpack-dev-server/'
      },
      dist: {
        path: 'http://localhost:<%= connect.options.port %>/'
      }
    },

    karma: {
      unit: {
        configFile: 'karma.conf.js'
      }
    },

    copy: {
      dist: {
        files: [
          // includes files within path
          {
            flatten: true,
            expand: true,
            src: ['<%= pkg.src %>/*'],
            dest: '<%= pkg.dist %>/',
            filter: 'isFile'
          },
          {
            flatten: true,
            expand: true,
            src: ['<%= pkg.src %>/styles/*'],
            dest: '<%= pkg.dist %>/styles/'
          },
          {
            flatten: true,
            expand: true,
            src: ['<%= pkg.src %>/images/*'],
            dest: '<%= pkg.dist %>/images/'
          },
        ]
      }
    },

    clean: {
      dist: {
        files: [{
          dot: true,
          src: [
            '<%= pkg.dist %>'
          ]
        }]
      }
    }
  });

  grunt.registerTask('serve', function (target) {
    if (target === 'dist') {
      return grunt.task.run(['configureProxies', 'build', 'open:dist', 'connect:dist']);
    }

    grunt.task.run([
      'open:dev',
      'webpack-dev-server'
    ]);
  });

  grunt.registerTask('content', ['configureProxies', 'connect:dev']);

  grunt.registerTask('test', ['karma']);

  grunt.registerTask('build', ['clean', 'copy', 'webpack']);

  grunt.registerTask('default', []);
};

Answer 4

I ended up using 'grunt-contrib-connect' and 'grunt-connect-proxy' with 'webpack-dev-middleware'. So, I can have proxy middleware to handle all my data requests and webpack middleware to handle static bundle file requests.

    var proxySnippet = require('grunt-connect-proxy/lib/utils').proxyRequest;
    var mountFolder = function (connect, dir) {
       return connect.static(require('path').resolve(dir));
    };

    var prepareDevWebpackMiddleware = function() {

        webpackConfig.devtool = "eval-source-map";
        var compiler = webpack(require("./webpack.config.js"));

        return webpackDevMiddleware(compiler, {
            publicPath : "/assets"           
       });
    };

---- GRUNT TASK ----

        connect: {
            options: {
                port: 8080,
                hostname: 'localhost',
                livereload : true
            },
            proxies: [{
                context: '/api',
                host: 'localhost',
                port: 8000
            }],
            livereload: {
                options: {
                    middleware: function (connect) {
                        return [
                            prepareDevWebpackMiddleware(),
                            proxySnippet,
                            mountFolder(connect, 'src')
                        ];
                    }
                }
            }
      }