@jmlweb/prettier-config-base

Base Prettier configuration package that provides shared formatting rules for consistent code style across projects.

✨ Features

• 🎯 Consistent Formatting: Standardized code style across all projects
• 🔧 Zero Configuration: Works out of the box with sensible defaults
• 📦 Extensible: Foundation for framework-specific Prettier configs
• 🚀 Modern Defaults: Optimized for modern JavaScript/TypeScript projects

📦 Installation

pnpm add -D @jmlweb/prettier-config-base prettier

💡 Upgrading from a previous version? See the Migration Guide for breaking changes and upgrade instructions.

🚀 Quick Start

Option 1: Using package.json (Recommended)

Add to your package.json:

{
  "prettier": "@jmlweb/prettier-config-base"
}

Option 2: Using .prettierrc.js

Create a .prettierrc.js file in your project root:

module.exports = require('@jmlweb/prettier-config-base');

Option 3: Using .prettierrc.json

Create a .prettierrc.json file:

"@jmlweb/prettier-config-base"

📋 Configuration

This package provides the following Prettier settings:

| Option | Value | Description | | --------------- | ------------ | ------------------------------------------ | | semi | true | Use semicolons at the end of statements | | singleQuote | true | Use single quotes instead of double quotes | | tabWidth | 2 | Use 2 spaces for indentation | | trailingComma | 'all' | Add trailing commas wherever possible | | useTabs | false | Use spaces instead of tabs | | endOfLine | 'lf' | Use LF line endings (Unix-style) | | proseWrap | 'preserve' | Preserve prose wrapping in markdown files |

💡 Examples

Before Formatting

const user = { name: 'John', age: 30, email: '[email protected]' };
function greet(user) {
  return 'Hello, ' + user.name + '!';
}

After Formatting

const user = {
  name: 'John',
  age: 30,
  email: '[email protected]',
};

function greet(user) {
  return 'Hello, ' + user.name + '!';
}

🤔 Why Use This?

Philosophy: Stop arguing about code style. Let Prettier handle formatting so you can focus on writing code.

This package provides an opinionated Prettier configuration that prioritizes readability and modern JavaScript conventions. The goal is to eliminate formatting debates and establish consistent code style across all projects.

Design Decisions

Semicolons (semi: true): Always use semicolons

• Why: Prevents ASI (Automatic Semicolon Insertion) edge cases and ambiguity
• Trade-off: Slightly more verbose, but eliminates an entire class of potential bugs
• When to override: If your team strongly prefers semicolon-free style and understands ASI rules

Single Quotes (singleQuote: true): Use single quotes for strings

• Why: Consistent with most modern JavaScript codebases and requires less escaping in JSX
• Trade-off: None significant - purely stylistic choice for consistency
• When to override: If working in a codebase that already uses double quotes

Trailing Commas (trailingComma: 'all'): Add trailing commas everywhere possible

• Why: Cleaner git diffs (changes only affect modified lines) and easier to add items without modifying previous line
• Trade-off: Slightly unusual for developers from other languages, but widely adopted in modern JS
• When to override: If targeting older environments that don't support trailing commas (rare with modern transpilation)

2 Spaces Indentation (tabWidth: 2): Use 2 spaces for indentation

• Why: Balances readability with horizontal space, standard in JavaScript ecosystem
• Trade-off: May feel cramped compared to 4 spaces, but prevents excessive nesting visibility
• When to override: If your team or organization has standardized on 4 spaces

🎯 When to Use

Use this package when you want:

• ✅ Consistent code formatting across projects
• ✅ Zero-configuration Prettier setup
• ✅ Modern JavaScript/TypeScript formatting defaults
• ✅ Foundation for extending with framework-specific configs

For Tailwind CSS projects, use @jmlweb/prettier-config-tailwind instead.

🔧 Extending the Configuration

You can extend this config for project-specific needs:

// .prettierrc.js
const baseConfig = require('@jmlweb/prettier-config-base');

module.exports = {
  ...baseConfig,
  // Override or add specific options
  printWidth: 100,
  arrowParens: 'always',
};

📝 Usage with Scripts

Add formatting scripts to your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "format": "prettier --write \"**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx,json,md}\"",
    "format:check": "prettier --check \"**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx,json,md}\""
  }
}

Then run:

pnpm format        # Format all files
pnpm format:check  # Check formatting without modifying files

📋 Requirements

• Node.js >= 18.0.0
• Prettier >= 3.0.0

📦 Peer Dependencies

This package requires the following peer dependency:

• prettier (>= 3.0.0)

📚 Examples

See real-world usage examples:

• example-nodejs-typescript-api - Node.js TypeScript API example
• example-nodejs-javascript - Node.js JavaScript example

🔗 Related Packages

Internal Packages

• @jmlweb/prettier-config-tailwind - Adds Tailwind CSS class sorting
• @jmlweb/eslint-config-base - ESLint config that works seamlessly with this Prettier config

External Tools

• Prettier - Opinionated code formatter
• ESLint - Pluggable linting utility (use with eslint-config-prettier to avoid conflicts)
• Editor Plugins - Format on save in VS Code, IntelliJ, and more

⚠️ Common Issues

Note: This section documents known issues and their solutions. If you encounter a problem not listed here, please open an issue.

Conflicts with ESLint

Symptoms:

• Code gets formatted by Prettier then changed back by ESLint auto-fix
• Linting errors about formatting (quotes, semicolons, etc.)

Cause:

• ESLint has formatting rules that conflict with Prettier
• Both tools trying to format the same code

Solution:

Install eslint-config-prettier to disable conflicting ESLint rules:

pnpm add -D eslint-config-prettier

Then add it to your ESLint config (must be last):

// eslint.config.js (flat config)
import prettier from 'eslint-config-prettier';

export default [
  // ... other configs
  prettier, // Must be last!
];

Or use @jmlweb/eslint-config-base which already includes this integration.

IDE Not Formatting on Save

Symptoms:

• Files don't format automatically when saving
• Manual format command works but auto-format doesn't

Cause:

• IDE Prettier extension not installed or configured
• Wrong formatter selected as default

Solution:

For VS Code, install the Prettier extension and add to .vscode/settings.json:

{
  "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "[javascript]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode"
  },
  "[typescript]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode"
  }
}

Configuration Not Being Picked Up

Symptoms:

• Prettier uses default settings instead of your config
• Custom options not applied

Cause:

• Configuration file not in the correct location
• Multiple config files conflicting

Solution:

1. Ensure config is in project root (not nested directories)
2. Use only one configuration method (package.json OR .prettierrc)
3. Check for conflicting configs in parent directories
4. Restart your IDE/editor

To verify Prettier finds your config:

pnpm exec prettier --find-config-path src/index.ts

🔄 Migration Guide

Upgrading to a New Version

Note: If no breaking changes were introduced in a version, it's safe to upgrade without additional steps.

No breaking changes have been introduced yet. This package follows semantic versioning. When breaking changes are introduced, detailed migration instructions will be provided here.

For version history, see the Changelog.

Need Help? If you encounter issues during migration, please open an issue.

📜 Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history and release notes.

📄 License

MIT