Bento

🍱 A custom bundler specifically designed for WordPress plugins - like Vite but for WordPress.

Features

• 🚀 WordPress-focused: Built specifically for WordPress plugin development
• 📦 Dual output: Creates both minified and unminified versions of all assets
• 🎯 Zero config: Works out of the box with sensible defaults
• 🔄 Watch mode: Automatic rebuilding on file changes
• 🎨 SCSS/Sass support: Built-in CSS preprocessing
• ⚡ ES6+ transpilation: Modern JavaScript support with Babel
• 📋 Smart manifest: Asset tracking for WordPress integration
• 🧹 Clean builds: Automatic output directory cleaning

Installation

npm install @ignitekit/bento --save-dev

Quick Start

1. Initialize configuration:

   npx bento init

2. Build your assets:

   npx bento build

3. Watch for changes:

   npx bento watch

Project Structure

Bento expects your WordPress plugin to follow this structure:

your-plugin/
├── scripts/
│   ├── admin/          # Admin-specific JS/CSS
│   ├── frontend/       # Frontend JS/CSS  
│   └── shared/         # Shared utilities
├── public/             # Generated assets (output)
├── bento.conf.js
└── package.json

Configuration

Create a bento.conf.js file in your plugin root:

module.exports = {
    // Entry points - directories containing your source files
    entry: {
        admin: 'scripts/admin',
        frontend: 'scripts/frontend',
        shared: 'scripts/shared'
    },

    // Output directory where built files will be placed
    output: 'public',

    // Build options
    clean: true,               // Clean output directory before build
    
    // WordPress specific options
    wordpress: {
        textDomain: 'your-plugin-textdomain',
        generateHandles: true,
        wpCodingStandards: true
    },

    // Advanced options
    advanced: {
        autoInstallDeps: true,
        transpile: {
            target: 'es5',
            browsers: ['> 1%', 'last 2 versions', 'ie >= 11']
        },
        css: {
            autoprefixer: true,
            purgeUnused: false
        },
        optimization: {
            splitChunks: true,
            treeshake: true,
            compress: true
        }
    }
};

CLI Commands

Build

Build assets for production and development:

npx bento build

Options:

• -c, --config <path> - Custom config file path
• -w, --watch - Watch for changes
• --no-clean - Skip cleaning output directory

Watch

Watch for changes and rebuild automatically:

npx bento watch

Initialize

Create a default configuration file:

npx bento init

Output

Bento creates both versions of every asset:

• Development files (.js, .css) - Unminified, readable
• Production files (.min.js, .min.css) - Minified, optimized

Example Output:

public/
├── admin/
│   ├── main.js          # Unminified
│   ├── main.min.js      # Minified
│   ├── main.css         # Unminified
│   └── main.min.css     # Minified
├── frontend/
│   └── ...
├── shared/
│   └── ...
└── manifest.json        # Asset mapping

WordPress Integration

Bento generates a manifest.json file that maps source files to their built versions:

{
  "main.js": {
    "unminified": "main.js",
    "minified": "main.min.js"
  },
  "main.scss": {
    "unminified": "main.css",
    "minified": "main.min.css"
  }
}

Use this manifest in your WordPress plugin to conditionally load minified or unminified assets based on WP_DEBUG or other conditions.

Package.json Scripts

Add these scripts to your plugin's package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "bento build",
    "watch": "bento watch",
    "dev": "bento watch"
  }
}

Dependencies

Required:

• Node.js >= 14.0.0
• chokidar (for watch mode)

Optional (peer dependencies):

• sass - For SCSS/Sass processing
• @babel/core + @babel/preset-env - For ES6+ transpilation

Install optional dependencies if needed:

npm install sass @babel/core @babel/preset-env --save-dev

Comparison with Vite

Feature	Bento	Vite
WordPress-focused	✅	❌
Dual output (min/unmin)	✅	❌
Zero config for WP	✅	❌
Dev server	❌	✅
HMR	❌	✅
File size	Lightweight	Heavier

Why "Bento"?

Just like a bento box neatly organizes different foods in compartments, Bento bundler neatly organizes your WordPress plugin assets into admin, frontend, and shared compartments! 🍱

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch
3. Commit your changes
4. Push to the branch
5. Create a Pull Request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Support

• 🐛 Report bugs
• 💡 Request features
• 📚 Documentation