Vite optimizeDeps.include Glob Pattern Support and Precedence with exclude

Answer

Vite’s optimizeDeps.include array does not interpret glob patterns. A value such as lodash-* is treated as a literal package name, which will not match any installed package and is effectively ignored. When both optimizeDeps.include and optimizeDeps.exclude are present, the exclude list takes precedence: any package listed in exclude is removed from the pre‑bundled set regardless of its presence in include.

Confirmed facts

• optimizeDeps.include accepts only exact strings (package names or paths). No glob or wildcard matching is performed.
• optimizeDeps.exclude is evaluated after include and overrides it; excluded packages are never pre‑bundled.
• Vite’s dependency pre‑bundling is driven by static analysis of import statements. Manual inclusion is only needed for dependencies that are dynamically imported or not detected by the scanner.

Likely explanation

Vite keeps the optimizeDeps configuration simple to avoid costly pattern matching during dev server startup and to make the behavior predictable. Supporting globs would require scanning the entire node_modules tree for each pattern, which could slow startup and introduce subtle mismatches.

Steps to achieve the desired effect without a custom plugin

1. If you know the exact lodash submodules you need (e.g., lodash.debounce, lodash.throttle), list them individually:

// vite.config.js
import { defineConfig } from 'vite'

export default defineConfig({
  optimizeDeps: {
    include: [
      'lodash.debounce',
      'lodash.throttle',
      'lodash.cloneDeep'
      // add any other lodash-* packages you use
    ],
    exclude: [] // keep empty unless you need to omit something
  }
})

1. If you are unsure which lodash submodules are actually imported, let Vite’s scanner handle it: omit include entirely and rely on static analysis. Only add to include when you see a missing pre‑bundle in the dev server.

Verification

After starting the dev server, check which packages were pre‑bundled:

ls node_modules/.vite/deps

Each bundled dependency appears as a file like lodash-debounce.js. In the browser DevTools → Network tab, filter by node_modules/.vite/deps; requests to raw node_modules/lodash/... indicate a package was not pre‑bundled.

Missing diagnostic detail

Are you importing lodash submodules dynamically (e.g., import(`lodash/${name}`))? If so, manual inclusion via optimizeDeps.include is necessary; otherwise you can rely on Vite’s automatic detection and omit the include array entirely.