ReferenceError when using preact.config.js

[acoll]

Do you want to request a feature or report a bug?
Bug

What is the current behavior?
I added a preact.config.js because I wanted to add a webpack loader. I added an empty function that does nothing. Next I ran preact watch which results in this error:

ReferenceError: [BABEL] MY_LOCAL_PATH_TO_PROJECT/preact.config.js: Unknown option: base.plugin. Check out http://babeljs.io/docs/usage/options/ for more information about options.

A common cause of this error is the presence of a configuration options object without the corresponding preset name. Example:

Invalid:
  `{ presets: [{option: value}] }`
Valid:
  `{ presets: [['presetName', {option: value}]] }`

For more detailed information on preset configuration, please see http://babeljs.io/docs/plugins/#pluginpresets-options.

I traced the bug back to here: https://github.com/developit/preact-cli/blob/master/src/lib/webpack/transform-config.js#L19.

I was able to workaround this by just creating an empty .babelrc in my project like this:

{}

[rodush]

@acoll You shouldn't do anything specific as webpack + babel work out of the box. You only add that preact.config.js file if you want to customize some webpack configuration.

[reznord]

creating an empty .babelrc in my project

when you do this, you are telling the preact-cli to overwrite the whole internal babel-config with what's given by the user.

[acoll]

@rodush Yea my intent was to add a new webpack loader that isn't included in the default webpack config (the polymer loader to be specific).

@reznord I think this makes sense, maybe the docs should mention that if you use a preact.config.js then you also need to include a babel config. Also if you don't the cli could fail with a more helpful message. If thats the right direction I'd be happy add some error handling and send a pull request.

[reznord]

You are wrong! You don't need to specify the .bablerc file every time you want to use preact.config.js.

It would be great if you can link to your code where you are getting this problem (the whole project) so I can test it locally.

[acoll]

Oh I misunderstood. Also I was unable to get the same error when starting a fresh project which led me to realize that this only happens inside a nested directory of another project with a package.json that has its own babel config.

I created a subdirectory inside an existing project and did a fresh preact create and added a preact.config.js and saw this issue. It seems like its going up a few directories to that package.json and getting an error on that babel config.

It seems like this was just caused by my weird directory structure and can be closed.

Thanks for the help. Apologies.