Get version number from package.json in React Redux (create-react-app)

Question

OP EDIT: If anyone else comes across this: the app was created using create-react-app, which limits importing to within the src folder. However if you upgrade react-scripts to v1.0.11 it does let you access package.json.

I'm trying to get the version number from package.json in my app.

I've already tried these suggestions, but none of them have worked as I can't access package.json from outside the src folder (might be due to React, I'm new to this). Moving package.json into src then means I can't run npm install, npm version minor, and npm run build from my root folder. I've tried using process.env.npm_package_version but that results in undefined.

I'm using Jenkins, and I haven't set it up to push the commits up yet, but the only idea I have is to get the version from the tags in GitLab, but I have no idea how to do that, and it would add unnecessary dependency to the repo, so I would really like to find an alternative.

EDIT: My file structure is like:

--> RootAppFolder
    |--> build
    |--> node_modules
    |--> public
    |--> src
         |--> Components
              |--> Root.js
    |
    |--> package.json

So to access package.json from Root.js I have to do import packageJson from './../../package.json' and then I get the following error:

./src/components/Root.js

Module not found: You attempted to import ./../../package.json which falls outside of the project src/ directory. Relative imports outside of src/ are not supported. You can either move it inside src/, or add a symlink to it from project's node_modules/.

Answer 1

From your edit I would suggest to try:

import packageJson from '/package.json';

You could also try to create a symlink:

# From the project root.
cd src; ln -s ../package.json package.alias.json

List contents of src directory and you'll see the symlink.

ls
#=> package.alias.json -> ../package.json

Adding the .alias helps reduce the "magic" for others and your future self when looking at this. Plus, it'll help text editors keep them apart. You'll thank me later. Just make sure you update your JS code to import from ./package.alias.json instead of ./package.json.

Also, please take a look at this question: The create-react-app imports restriction outside of src directory

Answer 2

Solving this without importing and exposing package.json to the create-react-app

Requires: version 1.1.0+ of create-react-app

.env

REACT_APP_VERSION=$npm_package_version
REACT_APP_NAME=$npm_package_name

index.js

console.log(`${process.env.REACT_APP_NAME} ${process.env.REACT_APP_VERSION}`)

Note: the version (and many other npm config params) can be accessed

Note 2: changes to the .env file will be picked only after you restart the development server

Answer 3

Try this.

// in package.json
"version": "1.0.0"

// in index.js
import packageJson from '../package.json';
console.log(packageJson.version); // "1.0.0"

Answer 4

I don't think getting version by 'import' or 'require' package is correct. You can add a script in you package.json

"start": "REACT_APP_VERSION=$npm_package_version react-app-script start",

You can get it by "process.env.REACT_APP_VERSION" in any js files.

It also works in build scripts, like this:

"build": "REACT_APP_VERSION=$npm_package_version react-app-script build",

Answer 5

import package.json

Generally speaking, importing package.json is not good. Reasons: security & bundle size concerns

Yes, latest webpack (default config) + ES6 import does tree-shaking (i.e. only includes the "version" value instead of the whole package.json) for both import packageJson from '../package.json' and import { version } from '../package.json'. But it is not guaranteed if you use CommonJS (require()), or have altered your webpack config, or use another bundler/transpiler. It's weird to rely on bundler's tree-shaking to hide your sensitive data. If you insist on importing package.json but do not want the whole package.json exposed, you may want to add some post-build checks to ensure other values in package.json are removed.

However the security concern here remains theoretical for open source projects whose package.json is public after all. If both security and bundle size are not problems, or, the non-guaranteed tree-shaking is good enough for you, then go ahead)

.env

The .env method, if it works, then it's good, but if you don't use create-react-app, you might need to install dotenv and do some additional configurations. There's also one small concern: it is not recommended to commit the .env file (here and here), but if you do the .env method, it looks like you will have to commit the file as it likely becomes essential for your program to work.

Best practice (arguably)

(this is not primarily for create-react-app, but you still can either use react-app-rewired or eject cra in order to configure webpack in cra)

If you use webpack, then with DefinePlugin:

plugins: [
  new webpack.DefinePlugin({
    'process.env.VERSION': JSON.stringify(
      process.env.npm_package_version,
    ),
  }),
]

You can now use console.log(process.env.VERSION) in your front-end program (development or production).

(You could simply use VERSION instead of process.env.VERSION, but it usually requires additional configuration to satisfy linters: add globals: {VERSION: 'readonly'} in .eslintrc (doc); add declare var VERSION: string; in .d.ts file for TypeScript)

Although it's "npm_package_version", it works with yarn too. Here's a list of npm's exposed environment variables.

Other bundlers may have similar plugins, for example, @rollup/plugin-replace.