Files
livedash-node/.opencode/skills/vercel-react-best-practices/rules/bundle-barrel-imports.md
Kaj Kowalski cd05fc8648 fix: resolve Prettier markdown code block parsing errors
- Fix syntax errors in skills markdown files (.github/skills, .opencode/skills)
- Change typescript to tsx for code blocks with JSX
- Replace ellipsis (...) in array examples with valid syntax
- Separate CSS from TypeScript into distinct code blocks
- Convert JavaScript object examples to valid JSON in docs
- Fix enum definitions with proper comma separation
2026-01-20 21:09:29 +01:00

60 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown

---
title: Avoid Barrel File Imports
impact: CRITICAL
impactDescription: 200-800ms import cost, slow builds
tags: bundle, imports, tree-shaking, barrel-files, performance
---
## Avoid Barrel File Imports
Import directly from source files instead of barrel files to avoid loading thousands of unused modules. **Barrel files** are entry points that re-export multiple modules (e.g., `index.js` that does `export * from './module'`).
Popular icon and component libraries can have **up to 10,000 re-exports** in their entry file. For many React packages, **it takes 200-800ms just to import them**, affecting both development speed and production cold starts.
**Why tree-shaking doesn't help:** When a library is marked as external (not bundled), the bundler can't optimize it. If you bundle it to enable tree-shaking, builds become substantially slower analyzing the entire module graph.
**Incorrect (imports entire library):**
```tsx
import { Check, X, Menu } from "lucide-react";
// Loads 1,583 modules, takes ~2.8s extra in dev
// Runtime cost: 200-800ms on every cold start
import { Button, TextField } from "@mui/material";
// Loads 2,225 modules, takes ~4.2s extra in dev
```
**Correct (imports only what you need):**
```tsx
import Check from "lucide-react/dist/esm/icons/check";
import X from "lucide-react/dist/esm/icons/x";
import Menu from "lucide-react/dist/esm/icons/menu";
// Loads only 3 modules (~2KB vs ~1MB)
import Button from "@mui/material/Button";
import TextField from "@mui/material/TextField";
// Loads only what you use
```
**Alternative (Next.js 13.5+):**
```js
// next.config.js - use optimizePackageImports
module.exports = {
experimental: {
optimizePackageImports: ["lucide-react", "@mui/material"],
},
};
// Then you can keep the ergonomic barrel imports:
import { Check, X, Menu } from "lucide-react";
// Automatically transformed to direct imports at build time
```
Direct imports provide 15-70% faster dev boot, 28% faster builds, 40% faster cold starts, and significantly faster HMR.
Libraries commonly affected: `lucide-react`, `@mui/material`, `@mui/icons-material`, `@tabler/icons-react`, `react-icons`, `@headlessui/react`, `@radix-ui/react-*`, `lodash`, `ramda`, `date-fns`, `rxjs`, `react-use`.
Reference: [How we optimized package imports in Next.js](https://vercel.com/blog/how-we-optimized-package-imports-in-next-js)