Server-side Webpack configuration

Modify the code to require nodeExternals, and update the config object with the following in your webpack.config.server.js file to configure Webpack for bundling server-side code.

mern-simplesetup/webpack.config.server.js:

const config = {
    name: "server",
    entry: [ path.join(CURRENT_WORKING_DIR , './server/server.js') ],
    target: "node",
    output: {
        path: path.join(CURRENT_WORKING_DIR , '/dist/'),
        filename: "server.generated.js",
        publicPath: '/dist/',
        libraryTarget: "commonjs2"
    },
    externals: [nodeExternals()],
    module: {
        rules: [
            {
                test: /\.js$/,
                exclude: /node_modules/,
                use: [ 'babel-loader' ]
            }
        ]
    }
}

The mode option is not set here explicitly but will be passed as required when running the Webpack commands with respect to running for development or building for production.

Webpack starts bundling from the server folder with server.js, then outputs the bundled code in server.generated.js in the dist folder.