API: start

While it's recommended to run webpack-dev-server via the CLI, you may also choose to start a server via the API.

This example demonstrates using start method. It instructs webpack-dev-server instance to start the server.

const Webpack = require("webpack");
const WebpackDevServer = require("webpack-dev-server");
const webpackConfig = require("./webpack.config");

const compiler = Webpack(webpackConfig);
const devServerOptions = { ...webpackConfig.devServer };
const server = new WebpackDevServer(devServerOptions, compiler);

const runServer = async () => {
  console.log("Starting server...");
  await server.start();
};

runServer();

Use the following command to run this example:

node server.js

What Should Happen

1. Open http://localhost:8080/ in your preferred browser.
2. You should see the text on the page itself change to read Success!.