import { spawn, Worker } from 'threads';
main().catch(console.error)
async function main() {
const piTimesTwo = await spawn(new Worker('./worker.js'))
console.log(`pi x 2 = ${await piTimesTwo(42)}`)
Please make sure to use the Worker
imported from threads
, not the global Worker
! The plugin will only consider those imported Worker
instantiations.
Babel / TypeScript
When transpiling your source code using Babel or TypeScript, make sure to that ES modules are transpiled by webpack, not by Babel or TypeScript. Otherwise the threads plugin won't be able to identify the imports.
Babel
In your Babel configuration when using @babel/preset-env
:
"presets": [
["env", {
"modules": false
If you are using create-react-app
or babel-preset-react-app
("presets": ["react-app"]
), you are already good to go - no need to adapt the configuration.
So the idea is to make sure that ES modules are still intact and not transpiled down to anything else by Babel. Otherwise the plugin won't work. This kind of configuration is best practice anyhow.
TypeScript
When using TypeScript, make sure this setting is part of your TypeScript configuration, either in the ts-loader
options or in your tsconfig.json
file:
"compilerOptions": {
"module": "esnext"
Electron
To use standard Node packages in Electron web workers, make sure Node integration in workers is turned on
and the plugin option target is set to electron-node-worker
.
Options
In most cases, no options are necessary to use WorkerPlugin.
globalObject
ThreadsPlugin will warn you if your Webpack configuration has output.globalObject
set to window
, since doing so breaks Hot Module Replacement in web workers.
If you're not using HMR and want to disable this warning, pass globalObject:false
:
new ThreadsPlugin({
// disable warnings about "window" breaking HMR:
globalObject: false
To configure the value of output.globalObject
for ThreadsPlugin's internal Webpack Compiler, set globalObject
to any String:
new ThreadsPlugin({
// use "self" as the global object when receiving hot updates.
globalObject: 'self' // <-- this is the default value
plugins
By default, ThreadsPlugin
doesn't run any of your configured Webpack plugins when bundling worker code - this avoids running things like html-webpack-plugin
twice. For cases where it's necessary to apply a plugin to Worker code, use the plugins
option.
Here you can specify the names of plugins to "copy" from your existing Webpack configuration, or provide specific plugins to apply only to worker code:
module.exports = {
plugins: [
// an example of a plugin already being used:
new SomeExistingPlugin({ <...> }),
new ThreadsPlugin({
plugins: [
// A string here will copy the named plugin from your configuration:
'SomeExistingPlugin',
// Or you can specify a plugin directly, only applied to Worker code:
new SomePluginToApplyOnlyToWorkers({ <...> })
target
Due to the way webpack works, it may be necessary to change the target environment of the workers. Using this option you can override webpack's target
option just for the worker bundle. Defaults to the global webpack target
.
Frequently used values:
electron-node-worker
: use this if you are using Electron and compiling web workers that have node integration enabled. See Electron Multithreading.
Example with electron node workers:
new ThreadsPlugin({
target: 'electron-node-worker'
License