# mzgoddard/hard-source-webpack-plugin

Repository: https://github.com/mzgoddard/hard-source-webpack-plugin
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/hard-source-webpack-plugin
Homepage: https://www.npmjs.com/package/hard-source-webpack-plugin
Language: JavaScript
License: ISC
License Family: permissive
Topics: webpack, webpack-plugin, webpack-cache
Last push: 2026-03-05T08:13:21+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 64/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 70, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3670, "days_push": 181, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2726, forks 156 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:15.901763+00:00)

## What it is
HardSourceWebpackPlugin is a webpack plugin that provides an intermediate hard (disk-based) caching step for modules, making subsequent builds significantly faster. It stores module source and dependency info on disk and reuses it across runs.

## Use cases
- speed up webpack rebuilds
- cache webpack modules on disk
- reduce build times for large webpack projects
- make second webpack builds faster
- cache module sources between builds

## When to choose
- you use webpack 4 or earlier and want faster repeat builds
- build times are dominated by recompiling unchanged modules
- you want a drop-in webpack plugin for persistent caching

## When to avoid
- you use webpack 5, which has built-in persistent filesystem cache
- your build is already fast or mostly cache-hostile
- you rely on loaders incompatible with hard-source caching

## Facets
- artifact type: plugin
- maturity: maintenance
- function: caching, build-tool
- domain: developer-tools, web-development, performance
- platform: cli
- tags: webpack-plugin, build-cache, disk-cache, incremental-builds, nodejs

## Member repositories
- mzgoddard/hard-source-webpack-plugin (main) score 64

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:15.901763+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:14:45.224942+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/mzgoddard/hard-source-webpack-plugin (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:15.901763+00:00, sha 7afaab0da5f8)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/hard-source-webpack-plugin (fetched 2026-08-29T09:58:13.459961+00:00, sha 1be5d1b6695d)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.