Imports

You can load a library using an import statement. For example, to load canvas-confetti from npm:

import confetti from "npm:canvas-confetti";

The code above imports the default export and is equivalent to:

import {default as confetti} from "npm:canvas-confetti";

Depending on the package, you may want to import specific named exports, or to import everything as a namespace. For example:

import {rollup} from "npm:d3-array"; // a single named import
import * as d3 from "npm:d3"; // import everything as a namespace

Imported symbols can be referenced in any code block or inline expression — not only in the code block that declares the import.

Inputs.button("Throw confetti! 🎉", {reduce: () => confetti()})

Framework provides a variety of ways to import. When you reference d3, Inputs, Plot or some other built-in, you’re implicitly importing from npm. In addition, you can import modules explicitly from:

• npm,
• node_modules,
• local paths, or
• remote URLs.

With the exception of remote imports, imported modules are bundled with your project, improving performance, security, and stability. In some cases, such as stylesheets and WebAssembly modules, you may need to specify additional files to download via import.meta.resolve.

npm imports

You can import a package from the npm registry using the npm: protocol. When you import using npm:, Framework automatically downloads and self-hosts the package via the jsDelivr CDN. Unlike imports from node_modules, you don’t have to install npm: imports — just import, and the cloud shall provide. 😌

By default, npm imports resolve to the latest version of the given package. Imported versions are resolved on build or during preview and cached in your npm cache. To load an earlier or specific version of a package, add a semver range. For example, to load major version 1 of canvas-confetti:

import confetti from "npm:canvas-confetti@1";

To import a specific entry point, append a slash / and the desired entry point path to the package name. For example, to load mime’s lite entry point:

import mime from "npm:mime/lite";

Similarly, to import the file dist/confetti.module.mjs from canvas-confetti:

import confetti from "npm:canvas-confetti/dist/confetti.module.mjs";

If you do not specify an entry point, the default entry point is determined by the imported package’s package.json, typically by the exports field; see jsDelivr’s GitHub for details.

Self-hosting of npm imports

Framework downloads npm: imports from jsDelivr during preview and build. This improves performance, security, and stability of your built site by removing runtime dependencies on external sites.

Downloads from npm are cached in .observablehq/cache/_npm within your source root (typically src). An imported module is downloaded from jsDelivr only if it is not already in the cache. You can clear the cache and restart the server to re-fetch the latest versions of libraries from npm.

Self-hosting of npm: imports applies to transitive static and dynamic imports. In addition to downloading modules, Framework downloads supporting files as needed for recommended libraries and import.meta.resolve. For example, DuckDB needs WebAssembly modules, and KaTeX needs a stylesheet and fonts. For dynamic imports and import.meta.resolve, Framework is only able to self-host import specifiers that are static string literals.

Node imports

You can import from node_modules. This is useful for managing dependencies with a package manager such as npm or Yarn, for importing private packages from the npm registry, or for importing from a different package registry such as GitHub.

After installing a package (say with npm install or yarn add), import it using a bare specifier such as d3 or lodash. For example, to import canvas-confetti:

import confetti from "canvas-confetti";

Or to import Apache Arrow:

import * as Arrow from "apache-arrow";

You can also import specific entry points by adding the entry point subpath after the package name. For example, to import mime’s lite entry point:

import mime from "mime/lite";

Unlike npm: imports, Node imports do not support semver ranges: the imported version is determined by what is installed in your node_modules directory. Use your package manager (e.g., edit your package.json and run npm install, or run npm update) to change which version is imported.

Imports from node_modules are cached in .observablehq/cache/_node within your source root (typically src). You shouldn’t need to clear this cache as it is automatically managed, but feel free to clear it you like.

Local imports

You can import JavaScript modules from local files. This is useful for organizing your code into modules that can be imported across multiple pages. You can also unit test your code and share code with other web applications.

For example, if this is foo.js:

export const foo = 42;

Then you can import foo as:

import {foo} from "./foo.js";

Within a local module, you can import other local modules, as well as npm:, Node, and remote imports. You can also reference local files within a local module by importing FileAttachment from the Observable standard library like so:

import {FileAttachment} from "npm:@observablehq/stdlib";

export const sales = await FileAttachment("sales.csv").csv({typed: true});

Framework automatically watches imported local modules and their associated file attachments during preview, so any changes to imported modules or referenced files will instantly update in the browser via hot module replacement.

Remote imports

Lastly, you can import a JavaScript file from an arbitrary URL at runtime. This is useful for loading a library from a remote server, say for an analytics script that isn’t published to a package registry and isn’t version-controlled.

The npm:canvas-confetti import above is approximately equivalent to importing from jsDelivr using /+esm:

import confetti from "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/canvas-confetti/+esm";

Unlike npm: and node_modules imports, remote imports are not self-hosted; the module will be fetched from the remote server at runtime. Use remote imports with caution as they are less secure and may degrade performance.

Dynamic imports

Dynamic imports, also known as import expressions, can be used to load a library lazily, say when a user clicks a button. This can improve performance if the library is not needed to render content that is visible on page load. Unlike static imports, dynamic imports are not preloaded.

const {default: confetti} = await import("npm:canvas-confetti");

You can use dynamic imports with npm:, Node, local, and remote imports. However, Framework can only resolve statically-analyzable dynamic imports, as when import is passed a single string literal.

Import resolutions

You can use import.meta.resolve to invoke Framework’s import resolution statically. This function takes an import specifier and returns the resolved URL. For example:

import.meta.resolve("npm:canvas-confetti")

While useful for debugging, import.meta.resolve also allows you to download files from npm. These files are automatically downloaded for self-hosting, too. For example, to load U.S. county geometry:

const data = await fetch(import.meta.resolve("npm:us-atlas/counties-albers-10m.json")).then((r) => r.json());

As with dynamic imports, you can use import resolutions with npm:, Node, local, and remote imports; and Framework only resolves statically-analyzable import resolutions, as when import.meta.resolve is passed a single string literal.

Module preloads

Static imports are preloaded such that imported modules are loaded in parallel and as early as possible, rather than being chained and waiting until JavaScript code execution. This can dramatically reduce page load times. Framework also preloads imports for FileAttachment methods, such as d3-dsv for CSV.

An import of canvas-confetti is preloaded as:

<link rel="modulepreload" href="/_npm/canvas-confetti@1.9.2/_esm.js">

Module preloading applies to transitive dependencies, too. For example, d3-array depends on isoformat and internmap, which together are preloaded as:

<link rel="modulepreload" href="/_npm/d3-array@3.2.4/_esm.js">
<link rel="modulepreload" href="/_npm/isoformat@0.2.1/_esm.js">
<link rel="modulepreload" href="/_npm/internmap@2.0.3/_esm.js">

Module preloading does not apply to dynamic imports and import.meta.resolve, as these imports are not always needed and are assumed lower priority. You can manually declare a preload if desired:

<link rel="modulepreload" href="npm:d3-array">

Implicit imports

For convenience, Framework provides recommended libraries by default in Markdown. These implicit imports are only evaluated if you reference the corresponding symbol and hence don’t add overhead if you don’t use them; for example, D3 won’t be loaded unless you reference d3.

Click on any of the imported symbols below to learn more.

import {FileAttachment} from "npm:@observablehq/stdlib";

import {Generators} from "npm:@observablehq/stdlib";

import {Mutable} from "npm:@observablehq/stdlib";

import dot from "npm:@observablehq/dot";

import * as duckdb from "npm:@duckdb/duckdb-wasm";

import {DuckDBClient} from "npm:@observablehq/duckdb";

import {sql} from "npm:@observablehq/duckdb";

import * as Inputs from "npm:@observablehq/inputs";

import mapboxgl from "npm:mapbox-gl";

import mermaid from "npm:@observablehq/mermaid";

import * as Plot from "npm:@observablehq/plot";

import SQLite from "npm:@observablehq/sqlite";

import {SQLiteDatabaseClient} from "npm:@observablehq/sqlite";

import tex from "npm:@observablehq/tex";

import * as Arrow from "npm:apache-arrow";

import * as aq from "npm:arquero";

import * as echarts from "npm:echarts";

import * as d3 from "npm:d3";

import * as htl from "npm:htl";

import {html} from "npm:htl";

import {svg} from "npm:htl";

import * as L from "npm:leaflet";

import _ from "npm:lodash";

import * as topojson from "npm:topojson-client";

Require

If you’re familiar with Observable notebooks, you may be familiar with require. We recommend that you avoid require as the underlying Asynchronous Module Definition (AMD) convention has been made obsolete by standard imports in JavaScript, and AMD tends to be implemented inconsistently.

If you really need require, you can import it from d3-require:

import {require} from "npm:d3-require";

Then you can call require like so:

const d3 = await require("d3@5");

Routing

Imported modules are copied to the output root (dist by default) during build, too. Only referenced imported modules are copied; modules that aren’t imported are not included. For example, if you have the following source root:

.
├─ src
│  ├─ chart.js
│  └─ index.md
└─ ...

And index.md includes a JavaScript code block that says:

import {Chart} from "./chart.js";

The resulting output root is:

.
├─ dist
│  ├─ _import
│  │  └─ chart.c79c2048.js
│  ├─ _observablehq
│  │  └─ ... # additional assets for serving the site
│  └─ index.html
└─ ...

The import declaration is automatically rewritten during build to point to ./_import/chart.c79c2048.js instead of ./chart.js. The content hash c79c2048 ensures cache-breaking during deploy, and allows assets to be marked as cache-control: immutable to improve performance.

Use a leading slash to denote paths relative to the source root, such as /chart.js instead of ./chart.js. This allows you to use the same path to import a module from anywhere, even in nested folders. Framework always generates relative links so that the generated site can be served under a base path.