# Webpacker

Rails gem that manages app-like JavaScript modules with webpack, no longer developed by the Rails team.


Source: https://findsoftware.frbit.cloud/webpacker/
Last reviewed: 2026-10-28
Listed since: 2026-10-28

## Record

### Links

- repository: https://github.com/rails/webpacker
- docs: https://github.com/rails/webpacker/blob/5-x-stable/README.md

### Identity

- status: discontinued
- maintainer: unknown
- maintainerType: unknown
- parent: unknown
- firstRelease: 2016
- hqCountry: unknown

### Kind

- category: build-tool
- hosting: not applicable
- language: ruby
- runtime: ruby
- runtimeMin: ruby 2.4
- basedOn: rails

### Content

- contentStore: not applicable
- databases: not applicable
- adminUi: not applicable
- headlessApi: not applicable
- templating: not applicable
- i18n: not applicable

### Rendering and deploy

- runsAs: unknown
- renderingModes: not applicable
- installMethod: gem

### License

- licenseModel: open-source
- license: MIT

### Releases

- currentMajor: 5
- latestReleaseDate: 2023-01-31

### Adoption

- githubStargazers: 5270
- packagistDownloads: not applicable
- npmWeeklyDownloads: not applicable
- contributors: 418
- pluginCount: unknown
- packagistMonthlyDownloads: unknown
- ecosystemsMonthlyDownloads: unknown
- httpArchiveSites: unknown
- wordpressActiveInstalls: unknown
- dependentRepos: 120458
- dependentPackages: 111

### Sources

- status: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rails/webpacker/master/README.md (read 2026-10-28)
- urls: https://api.github.com/repos/rails/webpacker (read 2026-10-28)
- urls: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rails/webpacker/5-x-stable/README.md (read 2026-10-28)
- category: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rails/webpacker/v5.4.4/webpacker.gemspec (read 2026-10-28)
- basedOn: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rails/webpacker/v5.4.4/webpacker.gemspec (read 2026-10-28)
- language: https://api.github.com/repos/rails/webpacker (read 2026-10-28)
- runtime: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rails/webpacker/v5.4.4/webpacker.gemspec (read 2026-10-28)
- runtimeMin: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rails/webpacker/v5.4.4/webpacker.gemspec (read 2026-10-28)
- installMethod: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rails/webpacker/5-x-stable/README.md (read 2026-10-28)
- license: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rails/webpacker/v5.4.4/webpacker.gemspec (read 2026-10-28)
- licenseModel: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rails/webpacker/v5.4.4/webpacker.gemspec (read 2026-10-28)
- firstRelease: https://rubygems.org/api/v1/versions/webpacker.json (read 2026-10-28)
- currentMajor: https://rubygems.org/api/v1/gems/webpacker.json (read 2026-10-28)
- latestReleaseDate: https://rubygems.org/api/v1/versions/webpacker.json (read 2026-10-28)
- githubStargazers: https://api.github.com/repos/rails/webpacker (read 2026-10-28)
- contributors: https://api.github.com/repos/rails/webpacker/contributors?per_page=1 (read 2026-10-28)
- dependentPackages: https://packages.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/registries/rubygems.org/packages/webpacker (read 2026-10-28)
- dependentRepos: https://packages.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/registries/rubygems.org/packages/webpacker (read 2026-10-28)

## Notes

Webpacker was a Rails gem that set up webpack for app-like JavaScript modules in Rails applications. Its install task generated configuration files for the test, development and production environments and a directory layout for packs, and its binstubs ran webpack or the webpack dev server. Rails compiled the packs through the assets precompile step in production.

## Worth knowing

The project has ended: its README says Webpacker has been retired and that the Rails team no longer evolves it. The README points existing applications to jsbundling-rails with webpack or to import maps, and names the Shakapacker gem as the continuation of the unreleased v6 work. Security fixes on the Ruby side follow the Rails maintenance schedule, but the JavaScript libraries are no longer updated.

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Data licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Attributes are recorded, never scored; absent means unknown.
Credit, in full: FindSoftware, CC BY 4.0