What does the term "incremental bundler" mean?
An incremental bundler is a bundler that, after the initial build, does not rebuild the entire project on every change, but updates only the parts of the dependency graph that actually changed. It works on an incremental principle: minimal rebuilding for a minimal change.
Key characteristics of an incremental bundler
- The initial build is full, with the module graph being constructed.
- Subsequent builds are partial, touching only the changed files and the graph nodes related to them.
- Aggressive caching - the results of previous builds are stored and reused.
- Fast HMR - only the specific module is updated, not the whole chain.
Why this is needed
| Problem with regular bundlers | What an incremental bundler solves |
|---|---|
| rebuilding grows with project size | speed does not drop as the codebase grows |
| slow HMR | instant module updates |
| CPU cost on every rebuild | minimal work per update |
Summary
The term incremental bundler denotes a bundler that uses incremental rebuilding and caching to keep development speed and HMR high regardless of the project's scale.
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