Turbocharge Your TypeScript Builds with esbuild.do

In the world of web development, speed matters. Build times can be a major bottleneck, slowing down deployments and frustrating developers. While TypeScript has revolutionized how we write JavaScript, its compilation step adds another layer to our build process. Tools like Webpack and Rollup are powerful but often come with complex configurations and slower performance.

Enter esbuild, a revolutionary JavaScript bundler written in Go, renowned for being orders of magnitude faster than its counterparts. But what if you could harness this incredible speed without installing a single local dependency or wrestling with build scripts?

That's precisely where esbuild.do comes in. We've packaged the blazing-fast power of esbuild into a simple, scalable API, creating esbuild as a Service.

What is esbuild.do?

esbuild.do provides esbuild's robust bundling, transpilation, and minification capabilities through a simple and powerful API. It's an agent on the .do agentic workflow platform, designed to perform one task exceptionally well: building your web assets.

With esbuild.do, you can integrate a high-speed build step into any application or workflow without ever needing to install or configure local build tools. Just send your code, and get back a perfectly bundled and minified asset.

Why Use an API Instead of the Local CLI?

While the esbuild CLI is fantastic, using an API like esbuild.do abstracts away the inherent complexities of managing build environments. This approach unlocks several key advantages:

• Zero Installation: Forget managing node_modules, binaries, or package.json files for your build step. All you need is the ability to make an API call.
• Environment Agnostic: Is your code running in a serverless function, a restrictive CI/CD runner, or an online playground? esbuild.do works seamlessly in any environment where installing Node.js and npm packages is inconvenient or impossible.
• Simplified Versioning: You get a stable, optimized version of esbuild without worrying about breaking changes or managing package updates across different projects.
• Ultimate Scalability: Offload the computational work of bundling to our optimized infrastructure, keeping your own servers and processes lean.

How It Works: A Code Example

Getting started is incredibly straightforward, especially with the @do-business/sdk. Let's bundle a TypeScript snippet directly from a string.

import { Agent } from '@do-business/sdk';

// Initialize the agent for our service
const esbuild = new Agent('esbuild.do');

// Bundle TypeScript code from a string
async function bundle() {
  const { code, map } = await esbuild.bundle({
    entryPoints: ['index.ts'],
    sources: {
      'index.ts': 'const greet = (name: string): string => `Hello, ${name}!`; console.log(greet("World"));'
    },
    bundle: true,
    minify: true,
    platform: 'node',
    target: 'es2020'
  });

  console.log('--- Bundled JS ---');
  console.log(code);
}

bundle();

Let's break down this example:

1. new Agent('esbuild.do'): We create an instance of the agent pointing to our esbuild.do service.
2. esbuild.bundle({...}): We call the bundle method, passing in standard esbuild options.
3. sources: This is the core of the magic. You provide your file contents as an object where keys are filenames and values are the code as strings. Our agent creates a virtual file system to process these files, resolving imports between them seamlessly.
4. { code, map }: The API returns the final bundled JavaScript code and a source map for debugging.

The result is production-ready JavaScript, bundled and minified in milliseconds.

Powerful Features at Your Fingertips

esbuild.do supports the core functionality that makes esbuild a favorite among developers. As a complete JavaScript and TypeScript bundler, it can handle:

• Modern Languages: Full support for JavaScript (JS, JSX) and TypeScript (TS, TSX).
• CSS Bundling: Import CSS files directly into your JavaScript/TypeScript and have them bundled and minified.
• Multiple Output Formats: Generate code in various formats like IIFE, CommonJS (CJS), and ES Modules (ESM).
• Code Minification: A highly effective CSS and JS minifier to shrink your assets for production.
• Flexible Configuration: Pass through most of esbuild's powerful build options to tailor the output to your exact needs.

Perfect Use Cases for esbuild as a Service

This build tool as a service model is perfect for a variety of modern development scenarios:

• Online Code Playgrounds: Instantly transpile and bundle user-provided code for live previews without heavy backend infrastructure.
• Serverless Functions: Create serverless endpoints that build and serve custom JS on-the-fly, or use it in your deployment scripts to transpile TypeScript without including node_modules in your function package.
• CI/CD Pipelines: Add a build step to your pipeline with a simple API call, accelerating your deployment process without installing Node.js dependencies on your runners.
• SaaS Platforms: Allow your users to write custom scripts in TypeScript and run them securely by bundling them into safe, minified JavaScript on your backend.

Conclusion: The Future of Builds is Simple

Stop wrestling with complex configurations and slow build times. esbuild.do offers the extreme speed of esbuild with the simplicity of an API call. By abstracting away the toolchain, you can focus on what you do best: writing great code.

Ready to turbocharge your build process? Try esbuild.do today and experience the power of bundling as a service.