Module Federation is a feature introduced in webpack 5, a popular module bundler for JavaScript applications. It allows you to share code between multiple applications or microfrontends at runtime, enabling dynamic loading of remote modules.
Traditionally, when building complex web applications, each application was bundled separately, resulting in duplicated code and increased bundle sizes. Module Federation addresses this problem by enabling you to split your application into smaller, more manageable modules that can be loaded dynamically.
With Module Federation, you can create a set of standalone applications, each with its own build process. These applications can then dynamically load and use modules from each other at runtime. This approach allows for code sharing and reduces the overall bundle size by only loading the necessary modules when needed.
The basic concept involves two main components: the host and the remote. The host application is responsible for loading and consuming modules from remote applications. The remote applications expose their modules to be consumed by the host application. When the host application requests a module, it is fetched and executed on-demand, enabling seamless integration of functionality across multiple applications.
Module Federation is particularly useful in microfrontend architectures, where multiple teams work on different parts of a web application independently. Each team can develop and deploy their microfrontend separately, and they can be composed together at runtime using Module Federation. This approach allows for greater autonomy and scalability while maintaining code separation.
Overall, Module Federation is a powerful feature of webpack 5 that enables dynamic module loading and code sharing between applications or microfrontends, resulting in more modular and efficient web development.