Parcel

Parcel is the "Zero Config" bundler. It works out of the box for React, Vue, Rust (Wasm), and more. v2.12 uses Lightning CSS for extreme performance.

When to Use

• Prototypes: You just want index.html to work.
• Simple Apps: You don't want to maintain a 500-line config file.
• Polyglot: You have images, Rust, and SCSS mixed together.

Core Concepts

Zero Config

It auto-detects transforms. If you import './style.scss', it installs sass automatically.

Caching

Aggressive filesystem caching makes restarts instant.

Workers

Parallelizes work across all cores.

Best Practices (2025)

Do:

• Use <script type="module">: Point Parcel at your HTML file as the entry.
• Use macros: Parcel supports build-time macros.

Don't:

• Don't fight the auto-install: Let Parcel manage its plugins.

References

• Parcel Documentation