High level steps webpack takes

webpack-bullets.md

• create a compiler
• apply options / configuration
  • apply plugins listed in options
  • add all other plugins based on options / configuration
  • example plugin: commonjsplugin
    • define dependency module factories
    • define dependency templates
    • plugin parser to create commonjs dependencies
• run the compiler
  • create module factories
  • create a Compilation
  • "make" the compilation
    • according to a plugin added when appling options add a chunk and entry module
      • build module
        • run loaders on original content
        • parse loader output
          • through commonjsplugin and other plugins, create dependencies
        • build a list of all dependencies for module
        • for each dependency
          • get a module factory for that dependency
          • create a module
            • add it to the compilation
            • build module
  • "seal" the compilation
    • assign ids to modules and chunks
    • most optimization plugins do work here
    • transform chunks into assets with the a chunk template
      • transform modules with the moduleTemplate
        • transform dependencies with their appropriate dependency template
  • emit assets to the file system