Import and compile local npm packages.

By default with babel-register and by convention with other Babel workflows, JavaScript files within node_modules will not be compiled, even if their containing directories are symlinks to directories outside of node_modules. This plugin aims to enable that usecase.

Install it locally to your project by running:

yarn add --dev babel-plugin-symlink-import

Add the plugin to your Babel configuration:

{
  "plugins": ["symlink-import"]
}

Given that your package.json contains:

{
  "name": "project",
  "dependencies": {
    "local-package": "v0.1.0"
  }
}

and you have a .myLinks file in the same folder as your package.json containing:

{
  "links": {
    "local-package": "link:./lib/local-package"
  } 
}

You can import files from the local library:

import localPackage from 'local-package'

and Babel will compile them instead of ignoring them because they are in the node_modules directory.

As a side-note, when you commit, you can ommit including the .myLinks file and everything will still work for your teammates.