NextGen JavaScript ESM module support for Django.
- easy transition
- smart cache busting
- no more bundling
- native ESM support
- local vendoring with npm
Install the package and add it to your INSTALLED_APPS setting:
pip install django-esm# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
# …
'django_esm',
]Next, add a new staticfiles finder to your STATICFILES_FINDERS setting:
# settings.py
STATICFILES_FINDERS = [
# Django's default finders
"django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder",
"django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder",
# django-esm finder
"django_esm.finders.ESMFinder",
]You will also need to expose your node_modules directory to Django's
staticfiles finder. You may run npm ci --omit=dev prior to running
collectstatic to avoid exposing your devDependencies publicly.
# settings.py
from pathlib import Path
# add BASE_DIR (if not already present)
BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
STATICFILES_DIRS = [
# …
BASE_DIR / "node_modules",
]Finally, add the import map to your base template:
<!-- base.html -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
{% load esm %}
<html lang="en">
<head>
<script type="importmap">{% importmap %}</script>
</head>
</html>That's it!
Don't forget to run npm install and python manage.py collectstatic.
You can now import JavaScript modules in your Django templates:
<!-- index.html -->
{% block content %}
<script type="module">
import "htmx.org"
htmx.logAll()
</script>
{% endblock %}You can also import private modules from your Django app:
<!-- index.html -->
{% block content %}
<script type="module">
import "#myapp/js/my-module.js"
</script>
{% endblock %}To import a private module, prefix the module name with #.
You need to define your private modules in your package.json file:
{
"imports": {
"#myapp/script": "./myapp/static/js/script.js",
// You may use trailing stars to import all files in a directory.
"#myapp/*": "./myapp/static/js/*"
}
}You can use the django_esm package to test your JavaScript modules with Jest.
Jest v27.4 and upwards will honor imports in your package.json file.
Before v27.4 that, you can try to use a custom moduleNameMapper, like so:
// jest.config.js
module.exports = {
// …
moduleNameMapper: {
'^#(.*)$': '<rootDir>/staticfiles/js/$1' // @todo: remove this with Jest >=29.4
},
}Django ESM works via native JavaScript module support in modern browsers. It uses the import map to map module names to their location on the server.
Here is an example import map:
{
"imports": {
"htmx.org": "/static/htmx.org/dist/htmx.min.js"
}
}