Support for importing from npm packages: @import (npm) ...

[andreypopp]

I want to propose a new feature which would allow to import less/css files from inside npm packages using Node module resolution algorithm (e.g. searching package inside node_modules directory in the current directory and up the tree, see Node docs for more details).

The syntax I propose is:

@import (npm) ...

which naturally extends import options available today. I think it would be nice to have npm import option to be compatible with other options such as reference, inline and so on.

The motivation for this is simple — browserify+npm become more and more popular for developing browser applications in a modular fashion. I think it would be nice to have the same degree of modularity when writing stylesheets with less.

For the reference, there's already an implementation of @import (npm) .... I think having this in core would enable much more straightforward usage and will allow to keep this feature in sync with less development.

[jonschlinkert]

We've talked about this, I like the idea. For the sake of discussion and a working demo, see the following (these are out of date, but they still demonstrate the concept):

• https://github.com/assemble/assemble-less/blob/less-modules/tasks/less.js#L282-L293
• https://github.com/assemble/assemble-less/blob/less-modules/tasks/less.js#L120-L124
• https://github.com/assemble/assemble-less/blob/less-modules/Gruntfile.js#L60-L88

[lukeapage]

I would welcome this being implemented as a plugin to begin with.

[andreypopp]

@lukeapage does less have plugin API?

[jfsiii]

@lukeapage I would like to add support for bower as well. Should I create a similar PR or a plugin? If plugin, can you link to docs or an existing example?

[jfsiii]

@lukeapage nevermind, I found #1861

[lukeapage]

As I said on the pull request id rather npm:// and bower:// as it is environment specific not less language specific. It also means plugins just need to handle the filename, not edit the parser behaviour.

[lukeapage]

Also have a look at the 2.0 pull request.

[hojberg]

and progress on this? Would really like this feature!

[seven-phases-max]

@hojberg See related discussion in #1972. (I.e. most likely not in The Core but in a plugin when v2.0 comes out (if someone writes such plugin of course)).

[seven-phases-max]

Closing as supported with https://github.com/less/less-plugin-npm-import now.