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babel-preset-es2015 -> babel-preset-env

We're super 😸 excited that you're trying to use ES2015 syntax, but instead of continuing yearly presets, the team recommends using babel-preset-env. By default, it has the same behavior as previous presets to compile ES2015+ to ES5. Please check out the v1.x readme for more info. (For Babel 7, we have moved the preset into the main babel repo.

Babel 7​

If you are using Babel version 7 you will need to run npm install @babel/preset-env and have "presets": ["@babel/preset-env"] in your configuration.

Before you do anything​

You might end up on this page because you saw a message in the terminal like this:

🙌 Thanks for using Babel: we recommend using babel-preset-env now: please read babeljs.io/env to update!

Before you proceed further, ask yourself: are you using Babel? Check your package.json and look for babel-preset-es2015 or a similar preset there. If you see a preset like this in your package.json, read on!

If you don't use Babel or don't use deprecated yearly presets, you probably saw this message because another package you depend on uses them. In that case there's nothing you need to do. Nevertheless, it might be a good idea to find out which package uses the deprecated presets, and help them migrate by sending a pull request. You can find this out by running npm ls babel-preset-es2015 which will show the dependency tree.

Upgrading to babel-preset-env​

Install​

npm install babel-preset-env --save-dev

Basic options change​

{
+  "presets": ["env"]
-  "presets": ["es2015"]
}

options change with preset options​

{
  "presets": [
+   ["env", {
-   ["es2015", {
      "modules": false
    }]
  ]
}

babel-preset-env is a new preset, first released over a year ago that replaces many presets that were previously used including:

  • babel-preset-es2015, babel-preset-es2016, babel-preset-es2017
  • babel-preset-latest
  • other community plugins involving es20xx:
    • babel-preset-node5, babel-preset-es2015-node, etc

By targeting specific browsers, Babel can do less work so you can ship native ES2015+ 😎!​

options against a specific chrome version​

babel.config.json
{
  "presets": [
    [
      "env",
      {
        "targets": {
          "chrome": "60"
        }
      }
    ]
  ]
}

options against current node version​

babel.config.json
{
  "presets": [
    [
      "env",
      {
        "targets": {
          "node": "current"
        }
      }
    ]
  ]
}

Some history on babel-preset-env​

Can check the preset-env docs for more information and further docs.