copy-webpack-plugin

Copies individual files or entire directories, which already exist, to the build directory.

Getting Started

To begin, you'll need to install copy-webpack-plugin:

npm install copy-webpack-plugin --save-dev

or

yarn add -D copy-webpack-plugin

or

pnpm add -D copy-webpack-plugin

Then add the plugin to your webpack config. For example:

webpack.config.js

const CopyPlugin = require("copy-webpack-plugin");

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        { from: "source", to: "dest" },
        { from: "other", to: "public" },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

ℹ️ copy-webpack-plugin is not designed to copy files generated from the build process; rather, it is to copy files that already exist in the source tree, as part of the build process.

ℹ️ If you want webpack-dev-server to write files to the output directory during development, you can force it with the writeToDisk option or the write-file-webpack-plugin.

ℹ️ You can get the original source filename from Asset Objects.

Options

patterns
options

The plugin's signature:

webpack.config.js

const CopyPlugin = require("copy-webpack-plugin");

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        { from: "source", to: "dest" },
        { from: "other", to: "public" },
      ],
      options: {
        concurrency: 100,
      },
    }),
  ],
};

`Patterns`

from
to
context
globOptions
filter
toType
force
priority
transform
transformAll
noErrorOnMissing
info

`from`

Type:

type from = string;

Default: undefined

Glob or path from where we copy files. Globs accept fast-glob pattern-syntax. Glob can only be a string.

⚠️ Don't use directly \\ in from option if it is a glob (i.e path\to\file.ext) option because on UNIX the backslash is a valid character inside a path component, i.e., it's not a separator. On Windows, the forward slash and the backward slash are both separators. Instead please use /.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        "relative/path/to/file.ext",
        "relative/path/to/dir",
        path.resolve(__dirname, "src", "file.ext"),
        path.resolve(__dirname, "src", "dir"),
        "**/*",
        {
          from: "**/*",
        },
        // If absolute path is a `glob` we replace backslashes with forward slashes, because only forward slashes can be used in the `glob`
        path.posix.join(
          path.resolve(__dirname, "src").replace(/\\/g, "/"),
          "*.txt"
        ),
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`For windows`

If you define from as absolute file path or absolute folder path on Windows, you can use windows path segment (\\)

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: path.resolve(__dirname, "file.txt"),
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

But you should always use forward-slashes in glob expressions See fast-glob manual.

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          // If absolute path is a `glob` we replace backslashes with forward slashes, because only forward slashes can be used in the `glob`
          from: path.posix.join(
            path.resolve(__dirname, "fixtures").replace(/\\/g, "/"),
            "*.txt"
          ),
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

The context behaves differently depending on what the from is (glob, file or dir). More examples

`to`

Type:

type to =
  | string
  | ((pathData: { context: string; absoluteFilename?: string }) => string);

Default: compiler.options.output

`string`

Output path.

⚠️ Don't use directly \\ in to (i.e path\to\dest) option because on UNIX the backslash is a valid character inside a path component, i.e., it's not a separator. On Windows, the forward slash and the backward slash are both separators. Instead please use / or path methods.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "**/*",
          to: "relative/path/to/dest/",
        },
        {
          from: "**/*",
          to: "/absolute/path/to/dest/",
        },
        {
          from: "**/*",
          to: "[path][name].[contenthash][ext]",
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`function`

Allows to modify the writing path.

⚠️ Don't return directly \\ in to (i.e path\to\newFile) option because on UNIX the backslash is a valid character inside a path component, i.e., it's not a separator. On Windows, the forward slash and the backward slash are both separators. Instead please use / or path methods.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/*.png",
          to({ context, absoluteFilename }) {
            return "dest/newPath/[name][ext]";
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/*.png",
          to({ context, absoluteFilename }) {
            return Promise.resolve("dest/newPath/[name][ext]");
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`context`

Type:

type context = string;

Default: options.context|compiler.options.context

A path that determines how to interpret the from path.

⚠️ Don't use directly \\ in context (i.e path\to\context) option because on UNIX the backslash is a valid character inside a path component, i.e., it's not a separator. On Windows, the forward slash and the backward slash are both separators. Instead please use / or path methods.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/*.txt",
          to: "dest/",
          context: "app/",
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

The context option can be an absolute or relative path. If context is a relative, then it is converted to absolute based to compiler.options.context

Also, context indicates how to interpret the search results. Further, he is considered in this role.

To determine the structure from which the found resources will be copied to the destination folder, the context option is used.

If from is a file, then context is equal to the directory in which this file is located. Accordingly, the result will be only the file name.

If from is a directory, then context is the same as from and is equal to the directory itself. In this case, the result will be a hierarchical structure of the found folders and files relative to the specified directory.

If from is a glob, then regardless of the context option, the result will be the structure specified in the from option

More examples

`globOptions`

Type:

type globOptions = import("globby").Options;

Default: undefined

Allows to configure the glob pattern matching library used by the plugin. See the list of supported options To exclude files from the selection, you should use globOptions.ignore option

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "public/**/*",
          globOptions: {
            dot: true,
            gitignore: true,
            ignore: ["**/file.*", "**/ignored-directory/**"],
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`filter`

Type:

type filter = (filepath: string) => boolean;

Default: undefined

ℹ️ To ignore files by path please use the globOptions.ignore option.

webpack.config.js

const fs = require("fs").promise;

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "public/**/*",
          filter: async (resourcePath) => {
            const data = await fs.promises.readFile(resourcePath);
            const content = data.toString();

            if (content === "my-custom-content") {
              return false;
            }

            return true;
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`toType`

Type:

type toType = "dir" | "file" | "template";

Default: undefined

Determinate what is to option - directory, file or template. Sometimes it is hard to say what is to, example path/to/dir-with.ext. If you want to copy files in directory you need use dir option. We try to automatically determine the type so you most likely do not need this option.

Name	Type	Default	Description
`'dir'`	`string`	`undefined`	If `to` has no extension or ends on `'/'`
`'file'`	`string`	`undefined`	If `to` is not a directory and is not a template
`'template'`	`string`	`undefined`	If `to` contains a template pattern

`'dir'`

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "path/to/file.txt",
          to: "directory/with/extension.ext",
          toType: "dir",
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`'file'`

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "path/to/file.txt",
          to: "file/without/extension",
          toType: "file",
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`'template'`

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/",
          to: "dest/[name].[contenthash][ext]",
          toType: "template",
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`force`

Type:

type force = boolean;

Default: false

Overwrites files already in compilation.assets (usually added by other plugins/loaders).

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/**/*",
          to: "dest/",
          force: true,
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`priority`

Type:

type priority = number;

Default: 0

Allows to specify the priority of copying files with the same destination name. Files for patterns with higher priority will be copied later. To overwrite files, the force option must be enabled.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        // Copied second and will overwrite "dir_2/file.txt"
        {
          from: "dir_1/file.txt",
          to: "newfile.txt",
          force: true,
          priority: 10,
        },
        // Copied first
        {
          from: "dir_2/file.txt",
          to: "newfile.txt",
          priority: 5,
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`transform`

Type:

type transform =
  | {
      transformer: (input: string, absoluteFilename: string) => string | Buffer;
      cache?: boolean | TransformerCacheObject | undefined;
    }
  | ((input: string, absoluteFilename: string) => string | Buffer);

Default: undefined

Allows to modify the file contents.

`function`

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/*.png",
          to: "dest/",
          // The `content` argument is a [`Buffer`](https://nodejs.org/api/buffer.html) object, it could be converted to a `String` to be processed using `content.toString()`
          // The `absoluteFrom` argument is a `String`, it is absolute path from where the file is being copied
          transform(content, absoluteFrom) {
            return optimize(content);
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`object`

Name	Default	Description
`transformer`	`undefined`	Allows to modify the file contents.
`cache`	`false`	Enable `transform` caching. You can use `transform: { cache: { key: 'my-cache-key' } }` to invalidate the cache.

`transformer`

Type:

type transformer = (input: string, absoluteFilename: string) => string;

Default: undefined

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/*.png",
          to: "dest/",
          // The `content` argument is a [`Buffer`](https://nodejs.org/api/buffer.html) object, it could be converted to a `String` to be processed using `content.toString()`
          // The `absoluteFrom` argument is a `String`, it is absolute path from where the file is being copied
          transform: {
            transformer(content, absoluteFrom) {
              return optimize(content);
            },
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/*.png",
          to: "dest/",
          transform: {
            transformer(content, path) {
              return Promise.resolve(optimize(content));
            },
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`cache`

Type:

type cache =
  | boolean
  | {
      keys: {
        [key: string]: any;
      };
    }
  | {
      keys: (
        defaultCacheKeys: {
          [key: string]: any;
        },
        absoluteFilename: string
      ) => Promise<{
        [key: string]: any;
      }>;
    }
  | undefined;

Default: false

webpack.config.js

Enable/disable and configure caching. Default path to cache directory: node_modules/.cache/copy-webpack-plugin.

`boolean`

Enables/Disable transform caching.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/*.png",
          to: "dest/",
          transform: {
            transformer(content, path) {
              return optimize(content);
            },
            cache: true,
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`object`

Enables transform caching and setup cache directory and invalidation keys.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/*.png",
          to: "dest/",
          transform: {
            transformer(content, path) {
              return optimize(content);
            },
            cache: {
              directory: path.resolve(__dirname, "cache-directory"),
              keys: {
                // May be useful for invalidating cache based on external values
                // For example, you can invalid cache based on `process.version` - { node: process.version }
                key: "value",
              },
            },
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

You can setup invalidation keys using a function.

Simple function:

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/*.png",
          to: "dest/",
          transform: {
            transformer(content, path) {
              return optimize(content);
            },
            cache: {
              directory: path.resolve(__dirname, "cache-directory"),
              keys: (defaultCacheKeys, absoluteFrom) => {
                const keys = getCustomCacheInvalidationKeysSync();

                return {
                  ...defaultCacheKeys,
                  keys,
                };
              },
            },
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

Async function:

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/*.png",
          to: "dest/",
          transform: {
            transformer(content, path) {
              return optimize(content);
            },
            cache: {
              directory: path.resolve(__dirname, "cache-directory"),
              keys: async (defaultCacheKeys, absoluteFrom) => {
                const keys = await getCustomCacheInvalidationKeysAsync();

                return {
                  ...defaultCacheKeys,
                  keys,
                };
              },
            },
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`transformAll`

Type:

type transformAll = (
  data: {
    data: Buffer;
    sourceFilename: string;
    absoluteFilename: string;
  }[]
) => any;

Default: undefined

Allows you to modify the contents of multiple files and save the result to one file.

ℹ️ The to option must be specified and point to a file. It is allowed to use only [contenthash] and [fullhash] template strings.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/**/*.txt",
          to: "dest/file.txt",
          // The `assets` argument is an assets array for the pattern.from ("src/**/*.txt")
          transformAll(assets) {
            const result = assets.reduce((accumulator, asset) => {
              // The asset content can be obtained from `asset.source` using `source` method.
              // The asset content is a [`Buffer`](https://nodejs.org/api/buffer.html) object, it could be converted to a `String` to be processed using `content.toString()`
              const content = asset.data;

              accumulator = `${accumulator}${content}\n`;
              return accumulator;
            }, "");

            return result;
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`noErrorOnMissing`

Type:

type noErrorOnMissing = boolean;

Default: false

Doesn't generate an error on missing file(s).

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: path.resolve(__dirname, "missing-file.txt"),
          noErrorOnMissing: true,
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`info`

Type:

type info =
  | Record<string, any>
  | ((item: {
      absoluteFilename: string;
      sourceFilename: string;
      filename: string;
      toType: ToType;
    }) => Record<string, any>);

Default: undefined

Allows to add assets info.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        "relative/path/to/file.ext",
        {
          from: "**/*",
          // Terser skip this file for minimization
          info: { minimized: true },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        "relative/path/to/file.ext",
        {
          from: "**/*",
          // Terser skip this file for minimization
          info: (file) => ({ minimized: true }),
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

Options

concurrency

`concurrency`

type:

type concurrency = number;

default: 100

limits the number of simultaneous requests to fs

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [...patterns],
      options: { concurrency: 50 },
    }),
  ],
};

Examples

Different variants `from` (`glob`, `file` or `dir`).

Take for example the following file structure:

src/directory-nested/deep-nested/deepnested-file.txt
src/directory-nested/nested-file.txt

From is a Glob

Everything that you specify in from will be included in the result:

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/directory-nested/**/*",
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

Result:

src/directory-nested/deep-nested/deepnested-file.txt,
src/directory-nested/nested-file.txt

If you want only content src/directory-nested/, you should only indicate glob in from. The path to the folder in which the search should take place, should be moved to context.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "**/*",
          context: path.resolve(__dirname, "src", "directory-nested"),
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

Result:

deep-nested/deepnested-file.txt,
nested-file.txt

From is a Dir

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: path.resolve(__dirname, "src", "directory-nested"),
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

Result:

deep-nested/deepnested-file.txt,
nested-file.txt

Technically, this is **/* with a predefined context equal to the specified directory.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "**/*",
          context: path.resolve(__dirname, "src", "directory-nested"),
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

Result:

deep-nested/deepnested-file.txt,
nested-file.txt

From is a File

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: path.resolve(
            __dirname,
            "src",
            "directory-nested",
            "nested-file.txt"
          ),
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

Result:

nested-file.txt

Technically, this is a filename with a predefined context equal to path.dirname(pathToFile).

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "nested-file.txt",
          context: path.resolve(__dirname, "src", "directory-nested"),
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

Result:

nested-file.txt

Ignoring files

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: path.posix.join(
            path.resolve(__dirname, "src").replace(/\\/g, "/"),
            "**/*"
          ),
          globOptions: {
            ignore: [
              // Ignore all `txt` files
              "**/*.txt",
              // Ignore all files in all subdirectories
              "**/subdir/**",
            ],
          },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

Flatten copy

Removes all directory references and only copies file names.

⚠️ If files have the same name, the result is non-deterministic.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: "src/**/*",
          to: "[name][ext]",
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

Result:

file-1.txt
file-2.txt
nested-file.txt

Copy in new directory

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          // When copying files starting with a dot, must specify the toType option
          // toType: "file",
          to({ context, absoluteFilename }) {
            return `newdirectory/${path.relative(context, absoluteFilename)}`;
          },
          from: "directory",
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

Result:

"newdirectory/file-1.txt",
"newdirectory/nestedfile.txt",
"newdirectory/nested/deep-nested/deepnested.txt",
"newdirectory/nested/nestedfile.txt",

Skip running JavaScript files through a minimizer

Useful if you need to simply copy *.js files to destination "as is" without evaluating and minimizing them using Terser.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        "relative/path/to/file.ext",
        {
          from: "**/*",
          // Terser skip this file for minimization
          info: { minimized: true },
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

`yarn workspaces` and `monorepos`

When using yarn workspaces or monorepos, relative copy paths from node_modules can be broken due to the way packages are hoisting. To avoid this, should explicitly specify where to copy the files from using require.resolve.

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    new CopyPlugin({
      patterns: [
        {
          from: `${path.dirname(
            require.resolve(`${moduleName}/package.json`)
          )}/target`,
          to: "target",
        },
      ],
    }),
  ],
};

Contributing

Please take a moment to read our contributing guidelines if you haven't yet done so.

CONTRIBUTING

License

MIT

Files

README.md

Latest commit

History

README.md

File metadata and controls

copy-webpack-plugin

Getting Started

Options

Patterns

from

For windows

to

string

function

context

globOptions

filter

toType

'dir'

'file'

'template'

force

priority

transform

function

object

transformer

cache

boolean

object

transformAll

noErrorOnMissing

info

Options

concurrency

Examples

Different variants from (glob, file or dir).

From is a Glob

From is a Dir

From is a File

Ignoring files

Flatten copy

Copy in new directory

Skip running JavaScript files through a minimizer

yarn workspaces and monorepos

Contributing

License

`Patterns`

`from`

`For windows`

`to`

`string`

`function`

`context`

`globOptions`

`filter`

`toType`

`'dir'`

`'file'`

`'template'`

`force`

`priority`

`transform`

`function`

`object`

`transformer`

`cache`

`boolean`

`object`

`transformAll`

`noErrorOnMissing`

`info`

`concurrency`

Different variants `from` (`glob`, `file` or `dir`).

`yarn workspaces` and `monorepos`