Consider moving from Webapck to esbuild for build tool

[futurebenmorris]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Webpack build times are slow and config is complex.

Describe the solution you'd like

Consider moving to esbuild to dramatically speed up build times and also unlock usage of tools like Vite and Snowpack in the development toolchain which make the developer experience much nicer.

Describe alternatives you've considered

The following are also alternatives to esbuild that aim to significantly improve bundle build times:

• swc
• packem

Additional context

I realise this may be quite a significant refactor as dependencies are likely to need updating which may introduce breaking changes. As such, this could become a long term goal if the community thinks it's worth the effort.

[cesar-ibr]

I consider this could be a huge improvement. I've tried to make it work with Vite and I found many incompatibility issues so I was forced to continue using webpack in my project. It would be nice if kepler.gl can work seamlessly with esbuild.

[futurebenmorris]

Exactly my experience too @cesar-ibr.

The main issue I have come across is the lack of support in esbuild for dynamic require calls (see this issue which also references a number of other related issues).

Netlify are running a fork of esbuild where they have proposed a plugin to cater for this, but I'm still holding out hope for esbuild to bring this fork back into the package... fingers crossed!

Might be worth weighing in over on that thread to demonstrate more demand for such functionality.

[juanes30]

Is there any update with this issue?