gulp browserify reactify task is quite slow

Question

I am using Gulp as my task runner and browserify to bundle my CommonJs modules.

I have noticed that running my browserify task is quite slow, it takes around 2 - 3 seconds, and all I have is React and a few very small components I have built for development.

Is there a way to speed up the task, or do I have any noticeable problems in my task?

gulp.task('browserify', function() {
  var bundler = browserify({
    entries: ['./main.js'], // Only need initial file
    transform: [reactify], // Convert JSX to javascript
    debug: true, cache: {}, packageCache: {}, fullPaths: true
  });

  var watcher  = watchify(bundler);

  return watcher
  .on('update', function () { // On update When any files updates
    var updateStart = Date.now();
        watcher.bundle()
        .pipe(source('bundle.js'))
        .pipe(gulp.dest('./'));
        console.log('Updated ', (Date.now() - updateStart) + 'ms');
  })
  .bundle() // Create initial bundle when starting the task 
  .pipe(source('bundle.js'))
  .pipe(gulp.dest('./'));
});

I am using Browserify, Watchify, Reactify and Vinyl Source Stream as well as a few other unrelated modules.

var browserify = require('browserify'),
watchify = require('watchify'),
reactify = require('reactify'),
source = require('vinyl-source-stream');

Thanks

Answer 1

See fast browserify builds with watchify. Note that the only thing passed to browserify is the main entry point, and watchify's config.

The transforms are added to the watchify wrapper.

_{code from article pasted verbatim}

var gulp = require('gulp');
var gutil = require('gulp-util');
var sourcemaps = require('gulp-sourcemaps');
var source = require('vinyl-source-stream');
var buffer = require('vinyl-buffer');
var watchify = require('watchify');
var browserify = require('browserify');

var bundler = watchify(browserify('./src/index.js', watchify.args));
// add any other browserify options or transforms here
bundler.transform('brfs');

gulp.task('js', bundle); // so you can run `gulp js` to build the file
bundler.on('update', bundle); // on any dep update, runs the bundler

function bundle() {
  return bundler.bundle()
    // log errors if they happen
    .on('error', gutil.log.bind(gutil, 'Browserify Error'))
    .pipe(source('bundle.js'))
    // optional, remove if you dont want sourcemaps
      .pipe(buffer())
      .pipe(sourcemaps.init({loadMaps: true})) // loads map from browserify file
      .pipe(sourcemaps.write('./')) // writes .map file
    //
    .pipe(gulp.dest('./dist'));
}

Answer 2

You have to use watchify and enable its cache. Take a look at : https://www.codementor.io/reactjs/tutorial/react-js-browserify-workflow-part-2 and for more optimisation when building source-map you could do that :

cd node_modules/browserify && npm i substack/browser-pack#sm-fast this would safe you half of time

part of my gulpfile.js

var gulp = require('gulp');
var uglify = require('gulp-uglify');
var htmlreplace = require('gulp-html-replace');
var source = require('vinyl-source-stream');
var browserify = require('browserify');
var watchify = require('watchify');
var reactify = require('reactify');
var streamify = require('gulp-streamify');

var path = {
    OUT : 'build.js',
    DEST2 : '/home/apache/www-modules/admimail/se/se',
    DEST_BUILD : 'build',
    DEST_DEV : 'dev',
    ENTRY_POINT : './src/js/main.jsx'
};

gulp.task('watch', [], function() {
    var bundler = browserify({
        entries : [ path.ENTRY_POINT ],
        extensions : [ ".js", ".jsx" ],
        transform : [ 'reactify' ],
        debug : true,
        fullPaths : true,
        cache : {}, // <---- here is important things for optimization 
        packageCache : {} // <----  and here
    });
    bundler.plugin(watchify, {
//      delay: 100,
//      ignoreWatch: ['**/node_modules/**'],
//      poll: false
    });

    var rebundle = function() {
        var startDate = new Date();
        console.log('Update start at ' + startDate.toLocaleString());
        return bundler.bundle(function(err, buf){
                if (err){
                    console.log(err.toString());
                } else {
                    console.log(' updated in '+(new Date().getTime() - startDate.getTime())+' ms');
                }
            })
            .pipe(source(path.OUT))
            .pipe(gulp.dest(path.DEST2 + '/' + path.DEST_DEV))
            ;
    };

    bundler.on('update', rebundle);
    return rebundle();
});

gulp.task('default', [ 'watch' ]);

Answer 3

Many thanks to @PHaroZ for that answer. I had to modify a little bit that code for my needs though. I am working with ReactJS on Symfony2 framework and all my builds were taking 7s-21s!!! Crazy.. So that's what I have now:

var path = {
    OUT : 'app.js',
    DEST_BUILD : './src/MyBundle/Resources/js/dist',
    ENTRY_POINT : './src/MyBundle/Resources/js/src/app.js'
};

gulp.task('watch', [], function() {
    var bundler = browserify({
        entries : [ path.ENTRY_POINT ],
        extensions : [ ".js", ".jsx" ],
//        transform : [ 'reactify' ],
        debug : true,
        fullPaths : true,
        cache : {}, // <---- here is important things for optimization
        packageCache : {} // <----  and here
    }).transform("babelify", {presets: ["es2015", "react"]});
    bundler.plugin(watchify, {
//      delay: 100,
//      ignoreWatch: ['**/node_modules/**'],
//      poll: false
    });

    var rebundle = function() {
        var startDate = new Date();
        console.log('Update start at ' + startDate.toLocaleString());
        return bundler.bundle(function(err, buf){
                if (err){
                    console.log(err.toString());
                } else {
                    console.log(' updated in '+(new Date().getTime() - startDate.getTime())+' ms');
                }
            })
            .pipe(source(path.OUT))
            .pipe(gulp.dest(path.DEST_BUILD))
            ;
    };

    bundler.on('update', rebundle);
    return rebundle();
});

Now first compile takes around 20s and each time I update my file it takes around 800ms. It's just enough time to switch from IDE to my browser.