One Config File to Rule Them All

June 29, 2023

JavaScript tools have too many config files. Let's combine them.

Modern web development involves working with multiple JS build tools and frameworks, each requiring their own configuration files. Managing these configuration files, such as .eslintrc, next.config.js, and tailwind.config.js, can become cumbersome and time-consuming. In this blog post, I'll explore the idea of combining these configuration files into a single file called global.config.js, centralizing project configuration and reducing distractions.

Config Files Everywhere

As I'm writing this blog post, my project root contains an .eslintrc.json, next.config.js, postcss.config.js, tailwind.config.js, and tsconfig.json. Although my configuration is pretty out-of-the-box and each file is less than 30 lines, those files take up valuable space in my VSCode sidebar and distract from what's important: my source code.

My case is far from exceptional. Some other projects use far more configuration files. Imagine how cluttered a project can get when you add a .babelrc, prettier.config.js, jest.config.js, cypress.json, etc.

The Solution: global.config.js

I'd like to propose a simple solution: consolidating configuration files in a file called global.config.js. The configuration for each tool would be stored in the exported object, under a key with the name of the npm package.

Projects should still allow usage of individual configuration files for cases when configuration is large and complex (e.g. tsconfig.json), but should first scan to see if a global.config.js exists and configuration for their tool is present.

Here's what a simple global.config.js might look like:

module.exports = {
  eslint: {
    extends: ["next/core-web-vitals"]
  },
  postcss: {
    plugins: {
      tailwindcss: {},
      autoprefixer: {}
    }
  },
  tailwindcss: {
    content: ["./src/pages/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx,mdx}"],
    theme: {
      extend: {
        backgroundImage: {
          "gradient-radial": "radial-gradient(var(--tw-gradient-stops))"
        }
      }
    },
    plugins: [require("@tailwindcss/typography")]
  }
}

But What about Types?

Type completion can be easily enabled for global.config.js by adding type definitions in comments, like Tailwind and NextJS already do in their config files.

module.exports = {
  // ...

  /** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
  tailwindcss: {
    content: ["./src/pages/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx,mdx}"],
    theme: {
      extend: {
        backgroundImage: {
          "gradient-radial": "radial-gradient(var(--tw-gradient-stops))"
        }
      }
    },
    plugins: [require("@tailwindcss/typography")]
  }
}

Next Steps

If you like this idea, submit a PR to your favorite build tool! If you don't, let me know why on Twitter. Or don't and just keep going about your life.

If you liked the article, don't forget to share it and follow me at @nebrelbug on Twitter.