Webpack css-loader: “Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'main.css' in …”

Question

I am trying to include my css in the server hosted by webpack-dev-server. For that to happen, I apparently have to use style-loader and css-loader together, in order to bundle the css into the JavaScript.

I can't get it to work.

I follow the instructions here , yet I get the following error:

ERROR in ./src/index2.js

Module not found : Error: Can't resolve ' main.css ' in C:\\Users\\magnusga\\Downloads\\Programming\\TestPrograms\\test\\src'

@ ./src/index2.js 1:0-27

@ multi (webpack)-dev-server/client? http://localhost:8080 ./src/index2.js

I know for certain that main.css is in the same folder as index2.js

---

My Settings

index2.js

import css from 'main.css';
// ...much more code

webpack.config.js

module.exports = {
    entry: {
        app: './src/index2.js'
    },
    devtool: 'inline-source-map',
    devServer: {
        contentBase: './dist'
    },
    module: {
        rules: [
            {
                test: /\.css$/,
                exclude: /node_modules/,
                use: ['style-loader', 'css-loader']
            }
        ],
    },
    plugins: [
        new CleanWebpackPlugin(['dist']),
        new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
            title: 'Development',
            template: 'src/index.html',
            inject: 'head'
        })
    ],
    output: {
        filename: '[name].bundle.js',
        path: path.resolve(__dirname, 'dist')
    }
};

package.json

{
  "name": "test",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index2.js",
  "dependencies": {
    "rxjs": "^5.5.6"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "babel-core": "^6.26.0",
    "babel-loader": "^7.1.2",
    "babel-preset-env": "^1.6.1",
    "clean-webpack-plugin": "^0.1.17",
    "css-loader": "^0.28.11",
    "extract-text-webpack-plugin": "^3.0.2",
    "html-webpack-plugin": "^2.30.1",
    "postcss-loader": "^2.1.3",
    "sass-loader": "^6.0.7",
    "style-loader": "^0.20.3",
    "webpack": "^3.10.0",
    "webpack-dev-server": "^2.11.0"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "buildb": "babel src --watch --out-dir built --copy-files",
    "watch": "webpack --watch",
    "start": "webpack-dev-server",
    "build": "webpack"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC"
}

---

One Fix

One fix is to use import css from './main.css'; instead of import css from 'main.css'; (note the ./ infront of the file name).

That does not feel right though, because the css-loader site shows that it should be the latter, not the former.

Is it a typo in the docs?

Thank you.

Answer 1

It is not really a typo. If you import it like this:

import css from 'main.css';

Webpack thinks, that you want to import a module, and searches for this file under node_modules. This is necessary, when you for example installed the bootstrap package and want to import its css. So when your css file comes from a dependency, you import that dependency like this. But when you want to import a lokal file, always use relative paths.

So it must be: import css from './main.css';

Further Reading:

• https://webpack.js.org/concepts/module-resolution/#module-paths
• https://webpack.js.org/configuration/resolve/#resolve-modules