webpack to bundle code targeting node.js

Question

I use webpack for bundling the client side and want to use it for building node/npm library. I saw I can specify the target as node for this. From the doc,

"node" Compile for usage in a node.js-like environment (use require to load chunks)

But the problem is react.js is bundled in the compile output. I want only my source files and any dependencies listed in package.json to be included. I have specified react as peerDependency, like

"peerDependencies": {
    "react": ">=0.13",
    "react-tap-event-plugin": ">=0.1.3"
  },

I also try defining react in externals expecting it may just create the symbol and not include the library itself, but it still includes react in compiled output.

 target: "node",
    externals: [{
        'react' : 'React',
    }]

so, is there a way to use webpack to bundle by server side / node code, but also to specify not to bundle some of the dependencies (which may be defined as peerDependencies or devDependencies)?

Answer 1

James had written a 3 part series on it.

http://jlongster.com/Backend-Apps-with-Webpack--Part-I

following his code, externals were set as

{ 'babel-core': 'commonjs babel-core',
  'babel-loader': 'commonjs babel-loader',
  classnames: 'commonjs classnames',
  react: 'commonjs react',
...
}

which worked great.