codyswanngt/phaser-build-deploy

Phaser 4 Build and Deploy

Overview

The game ships as static files built by Vite (with TypeScript 6, phaser pinned ^4.2.0). A good prod build does four things: split the large phaser vendor chunk so app code can change without re-downloading the engine, minify hard, content-hash everything for immutable caching, and register a PWA service worker that precaches game assets. A bundle-size budget keeps the result honest. The asset pipeline ([[phaser-asset-pipeline]]) runs first; this skill packages its output.

Vite production config

// vite.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import { VitePWA } from "vite-plugin-pwa";

export default defineConfig({
  base: process.env.BASE_PATH ?? "/",   // "/" for root domains, "/repo/" for project pages
  build: {
    target: "es2022",
    assetsInlineLimit: 0,               // never inline game assets — keep them cacheable files
    minify: "terser",
    terserOptions: { compress: { passes: 2, drop_console: true }, format: { comments: false } },
    rollupOptions: {
      output: {
        // Vite 8's rolldown bundler requires the FUNCTION form (the object form
        // `{ phaser: ["phaser"] }` throws "manualChunks is not a function").
        manualChunks: id =>
          id.includes("node_modules/phaser") ? "phaser" : undefined,
        entryFileNames: "assets/[name]-[hash].js",      // content hash on everything
        chunkFileNames: "assets/[name]-[hash].js",
        assetFileNames: "assets/[name]-[hash][extname]",
      },
    },
  },
});

The manualChunks function is the single highest-value line: Phaser is hundreds of KB and rarely changes, so isolating it means a gameplay tweak only busts the small app chunk. Use the function form — Vite 8 ships the rolldown bundler, which requires it (the classic object form throws manualChunks is not a function). Two-pass terser squeezes meaningfully more than one.

Asset hashing and immutable caching

Every emitted file carries a content hash, so it can be cached forever and a change produces a new filename (cache-busted automatically):

/assets/index-3f2a.js        Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, immutable
/assets/phaser-9b1c.js       Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, immutable
/index.html                  Cache-Control: no-cache   (must revalidate to pick up new hashes)

index.html is the only file served no-cache — it points at the hashed assets, so revalidating it is enough to roll the whole app forward. Game assets under public/assets/** ([[phaser-asset-pipeline]]) are hashed by the PWA precache manifest below even though Vite copies them verbatim.

Base path per host

base must match where the game is served:

• Root domain / custom domain → base: "/".
• GitHub Pages project site → base: "/<repo>/".
• Subpath behind a reverse proxy → that subpath.

A wrong base is the classic "works on bun run dev, blank canvas on deploy" bug — assets 404 because the URLs are absolute to the wrong root. Drive it from an env var so the same build config serves every host.

PWA: vite-plugin-pwa (on by default)

The PWA is on by default: install-to-home-screen, offline play, and auto-update. registerType: "autoUpdate" ships new versions without a manual prompt; the critical part is extending globPatterns to precache game assets (atlases, audio sprites, fonts) — the Workbox default only catches JS/CSS/HTML and would leave a "installed but can't load its art offline" game.

VitePWA({
  registerType: "autoUpdate",
  includeAssets: ["favicon.svg"],
  workbox: {
    globPatterns: ["**/*.{js,css,html,png,jpg,svg,webp,woff2,json,fnt,mp3,m4a,ogg}"],
    // critically include packed game assets:
    globDirectory: "dist",
    additionalManifestEntries: [],     // or widen globPatterns to assets/**/*.{png,json,fnt,ogg,m4a}
    maximumFileSizeToCacheInBytes: 8 * 1024 * 1024, // raise above default 2MB for atlas pages
  },
  manifest: { name: "Game", short_name: "Game", display: "fullscreen", orientation: "landscape",
              background_color: "#000000", theme_color: "#000000", icons: [/* 192/512 */] },
})

Set maximumFileSizeToCacheInBytes above the default 2 MB or large atlas pages silently fall out of the precache.

Bundle-size budget

A byte budget, checked after bun run build, fails the PR when a stray dependency or an un-split engine chunk bloats the download. This is the same budget the bundle-size gate in [[phaser-testing]] enforces in CI.

// size-limit config (or a custom post-build check)
[
  { "name": "app",    "path": "dist/assets/index-*.js",  "limit": "60 kB" },
  { "name": "phaser", "path": "dist/assets/phaser-*.js", "limit": "400 kB" }
]

Separate budgets per chunk catch the right regressions: app growth from your code vs. an accidental second copy of a big dependency landing in the phaser chunk.

Static deploy

Output is plain static files in dist/ — host on any static CDN (GitHub Pages, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, S3+CloudFront). Requirements: serve over HTTPS (PWA + Web Audio expect a secure context), set the cache headers above (immutable for hashed assets, no-cache for index.html), and for client-routed builds add an SPA fallback to index.html. Build with the host's base path:

BASE_PATH=/my-game/ bun run build   # then publish dist/

Project conventions

• Run the asset pipeline before the build (prebuild) so public/assets/** and src/assets.ts are current ([[phaser-asset-pipeline]]).
• phaser is always its own manualChunk; never let it merge into the app chunk.
• base comes from an env var, never hardcoded to one host.
• The bundle-size budget is committed and CI-gated ([[phaser-testing]]).
• Build pins: phaser ^4.2.0, Vite, TypeScript 6.

Verification

Verified by bun run build succeeding under the size budget, then bun run preview (served at the deploy base) booting the game with no 404s and no console errors. Confirm the PWA registers (Application → Service Workers), load once online then go offline and reload to confirm assets are precached, and confirm a redeploy auto-updates clients without a manual cache clear. </content>