index.html disappears after watch triggered recompilation - npm

Question

I have a Chrome Extension where I started using webpack. I can build it just fine, but in development mode when I am run npm run watch after the first recompilation is triggered the index.html disappears from the build directory.
Here is script part of my package.json:
"build": "node utils/build.js",
"watch": "webpack --watch & webpack-dev-server --inline --progress --colors"
}
My webpack.config.js: (I have a bunch of content scripts listed as separate entry point as well that I omitted)
path = require("path"),
env = require("./utils/env"),
CleanWebpackPlugin = require("clean-webpack-plugin").CleanWebpackPlugin,
CopyWebpackPlugin = require("copy-webpack-plugin"),
HtmlWebpackPlugin = require("html-webpack-plugin"),
WriteFilePlugin = require("write-file-webpack-plugin"),
MiniCssExtractPlugin = require('mini-css-extract-plugin');
const fileExtensions = ["jpg", "jpeg", "png", "gif", "eot", "otf", "svg", "ttf", "woff", "woff2"];
const options = {
mode: process.env.NODE_ENV || "development",
entry: {
// the single js bundle used by the single page that is used for the popup, options and bookmarks
index: path.join(__dirname, "src", "", "index.js"),
// background scripts
"js/backgroundScripts/background": path.join(__dirname, "src", "js/backgroundScripts", "background.js"),
"js/backgroundScripts/messaging": path.join(__dirname, "src", "js/backgroundScripts", "messaging.js")
},
output: {
publicPath: '',
path: path.join(__dirname, "build"),
filename: "[name].bundle.js"
},
module: {
rules: [
{
enforce: "pre",
test: /\.js$/,
exclude: /node_modules/,
loader: "eslint-loader",
options: {
cache: true,
emitWarning: true
},
},
{
test: /\.(sa|sc|c)ss$/,
use: [
{
loader: MiniCssExtractPlugin.loader,
options: {
hmr: true,
},
},
'css-loader',
'sass-loader',
],
},
{
test: new RegExp('\.(' + fileExtensions.join('|') + ')$'),
loader: "file-loader?name=[name].[ext]",
exclude: /node_modules/
},
{
test: /\.html$/,
loader: "html-loader",
exclude: /node_modules/
},
{
test: /\.(js|jsx)$/,
loader: "babel-loader",
exclude: /node_modules/
},
]
},
resolve: {
modules: [path.resolve(__dirname, './src'), 'node_modules'],
extensions: fileExtensions.map(extension => ("." + extension)).concat([".jsx", ".js", ".css"])
},
plugins: [
// clean the build folder
new CleanWebpackPlugin(),
// expose and write the allowed env vars on the compiled bundle
new webpack.EnvironmentPlugin({
NODE_ENV: 'development', // use 'development' unless process.env.NODE_ENV is defined
DEBUG: false
}),
// copies assets that don't need bundling
new CopyWebpackPlugin([
"src/manifest.json",
{
from: "src/css",
to: 'css/'
},
{
from: "src/_locales",
to: '_locales/'
},
{
from: "src/images",
to: 'images/'
}
], { copyUnmodified: true }),
new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
template: path.join(__dirname, "src", "index.html"),
filename: "index.html",
chunks: ["index"]
}),
new WriteFilePlugin(),
new MiniCssExtractPlugin({
// Options similar to the same options in webpackOptions.output
// both options are optional
filename: '[name].css',
chunkFilename: '[id].css',
}),
],
devServer: {
writeToDisk: true,
contentBase: path.join(__dirname, "../build")
}
};
if (env.NODE_ENV === "development") {
options.devtool = "cheap-module-source-map";
}
module.exports = options;
I can see index.html listed in the initial build log, but not any of the ones after that.
I would appreciate any clues of why this is is happening and how I could fix it. Thanks.

Answer 1

In the plugins section, you should put this line conditional only for production environment:
new CleanWebpackPlugin()
As it's role is to clean the build folder.