Esbuild Raw Plugin 
Lightweight ESBuild/TSUP plugin to import files as raw content — zero config required.
🔌Import
.ts,.js,.css,.scss,.md,.html,.docx, and more — perfect for documentation, live editors (react-live), markdown tooling, or template-driven workflows. ⚡️Power users: Load.docxtemplates directly for mdast2docx.
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🚀 Features
🔥 Import any file as raw content with zero config in ESBuild or TSUP — text, base64, binary, docx templates & more!\ ⚡️ Fast, smart, and extensible →
esbuild-raw-plugin
- 🔧 Supports
?raw,?text,?base64,?dataurl,?binary, and?filequery suffixes - 🧠 Smart fallback to extensions like
.ts,.tsx,index.[ext], etc. - 🔍 Custom loader mapping (e.g.,
module.scss→text,png→dataurl) - ⚡ Ultra-fast using regex-based native
onLoadfilter (Go-native perf) - 🪶 Works seamlessly with both Tsup and ESBuild
📦 Installation
npm install esbuild-raw-plugin --save-dev
or
yarn add esbuild-raw-plugin --dev
or
pnpm add esbuild-raw-plugin --save-dev
🛠 Usage
➤ With ESBuild
import { build } from "esbuild";
import { raw } from "esbuild-raw-plugin";
build({
entryPoints: ["src/index.js"],
bundle: true,
outfile: "out.js",
plugins: [raw()],
});
➤ With TSUP
import { defineConfig } from "tsup";
import { raw } from "esbuild-raw-plugin";
export default defineConfig({
entry: ["src/index.ts"],
outDir: "dist",
esbuildPlugins: [raw()],
});
🧠 TypeScript Support
Add this to your declarations.d.ts file:
declare module "*?raw" {
const content: string;
export default content;
}
For other suffixes (
?base64,?binary, etc.), add similar declarations if needed.
📥 Importing Raw Files
import content from "./example.js?raw";
console.log(content); // Entire file content as string or Buffer
✅ Simplified Imports
You don’t need to specify full filenames or extensions:
import code from "./utils?raw"; // Resolves to utils/index.ts, utils.js, etc.
Great for:
- Library or folder-level imports
- Auto-resolving
.ts,.tsx,.css,.scss, etc.
⚙️ Plugin Options
export interface RawPluginOptions {
ext?: string[];
loader?: "text" | "base64" | "dataurl" | "file" | "binary" | "default";
customLoaders?: Record<string, "text" | "base64" | "dataurl" | "file" | "binary" | "default">;
name?: string;
}
ext: Extensions to resolve if the file or folder is missing. Defaults to common types like ts, tsx, module.css, etc.
- loader: Default loader if no ?query is specified. Usually "text".
- customLoaders: Per-extension loader mapping. Example:
ts
{
"module.scss": "text",
"png": "dataurl",
"docx": "file"
}
- name: Optional plugin name override for debugging or deduplication.
🧪 Supported Query Loaders
Import with query-based syntax:
import doc from "./readme.md?text";
import logo from "./logo.png?base64";
import wasm from "./core.wasm?binary";
| Query Suffix | Description |
|---|---|
?raw |
Uses the default loader (options.loader ?? "text") |
?text |
Loads file as UTF-8 text |
?base64 |
Returns base64 string |
?dataurl |
Returns full data URL |
?file |
Emits file to output dir |
?binary |
Returns raw Buffer |
🧬 Use Case: Live Code Preview
import { LiveProvider, LiveEditor, LiveError, LivePreview } from "react-live";
import exampleCode from "./example.js?raw";
export default function LiveDemo() {
return (
<LiveProvider code={exampleCode}>
<LiveEditor />
<LiveError />
<LivePreview />
</LiveProvider>
);
}
🔍 Why Choose esbuild-raw-plugin?
- ✅ Works out of the box — no config needed
- 📁 Handles smart file resolution
- 💬 Excellent developer experience
- 🧩 Supports both query-based and extension-based mappings
- 🧪 Stable, fast, and production-tested
🛠 Contributing
PRs and ideas welcome! Open an issue or submit a pull request to help improve the plugin.
🧾 License
Licensed under the MPL-2.0 open-source license.
Please consider sponsoring or joining a course to support this work.
with 💖 by Mayank Kumar Chaudhari