Can't install service worker of workbox-webpack-plugin in root url for React app, it's installing at localhost:8080/dist

Question

I have been following a lot of tutorials of how to install workbox-webpack-plugin but I haven't succesfully managed to install it correctly. The service worker appears to be installing but its installing in the dist folder of my app (This is my webpacks output path). I think there's nothing wrong with this but when I run my app, there are no errors but the service worker is not functioning and I notice that it is being installed at localhost:8080/dist (The output path) and even if I try to run it in a heroku free server it gets installed at the url "https://myherokuapp.com/dist" (The same output path) I can't find a way to fix and think this might be related with another webpack module?

Here's my webpack config:

module.exports = (env) => {
  const isProduction = env === 'production';
  const CSSExtract = new ExtractTextPlugin('styles.css');

  return {
    entry: ['babel-polyfill', './src/app.js'],
    output: {
      path: path.join(__dirname, 'public', 'dist'),
      filename: 'bundle.js'
    },
    module: {
      rules: [{
        loader: 'babel-loader',
        test: /\.js$/,
        exclude: /node_modules/
      }, {
        test: /\.s?css$/,
        use: CSSExtract.extract({
          use: [
            {
              loader: 'css-loader',
              options: {
                sourceMap: true
              }
            },
            {
              loader: 'sass-loader',
              options: {
                sourceMap: true
              }
            }
          ]
        })
      }]
    },
    plugins: [
      CSSExtract,
      new webpack.DefinePlugin({
        'process.env.FIREBASE_API_KEY': JSON.stringify(process.env.FIREBASE_API_KEY),
        'process.env.FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN': JSON.stringify(process.env.FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN),
        'process.env.FIREBASE_DATABASE_URL': JSON.stringify(process.env.FIREBASE_DATABASE_URL),
        'process.env.FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID': JSON.stringify(process.env.FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID),
        'process.env.FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET': JSON.stringify(process.env.FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET),
        'process.env.FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID': JSON.stringify(process.env.FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID)
      }),
      new CopyWebpackPlugin([
      {
        from: './public/index.html',
        to: 'index.html'
      }
      ]),
      new WorkboxPlugin.InjectManifest({
        swSrc: './public/sw.js',
        swDest: 'service-worker.js'
      })
    ],
    devtool: isProduction ? 'source-map' : 'inline-source-map',
    devServer: {
      contentBase: path.join(__dirname, 'public'),
      historyApiFallback: true,
      publicPath: '/dist/'
    }
  };
};

The service worker I am providing to workbox at swSrc:

workbox.routing.registerNavigationRoute('https://my-app123.herokuapp.com/dashboard');

workbox.skipWaiting();

workbox.precaching.precacheAndRoute(self.__precacheManifest);

And my manifest:

{
    "dir": "ltr",
    "lang": "ES",
    "name": "PWAPRB",
    "icons": [
        {
          "src": "/images/icons/app-icon-48x48.png",
          "type": "image/png",
          "sizes": "48x48"
        },
        {
          "src": "/images/icons/app-icon-96x96.png",
          "type": "image/png",
          "sizes": "96x96"
        },
        {
          "src": "/images/icons/app-icon-144x144.png",
          "type": "image/png",
          "sizes": "144x144"
        },
        {
          "src": "/images/icons/app-icon-192x192.png",
          "type": "image/png",
          "sizes": "192x192"
        },
        {
          "src": "/images/icons/app-icon-256x256.png",
          "type": "image/png",
          "sizes": "256x256"
        },
        {
          "src": "/images/icons/app-icon-384x384.png",
          "type": "image/png",
          "sizes": "384x384"
        },
        {
          "src": "/images/icons/app-icon-512x512.png",
          "type": "image/png",
          "sizes": "512x512"
        }
      ],
    "display": "standalone",
    "start_url": "https://my-app123.herokuapp.com/dashboard",
    "scope": ".",
    "short_name": "PRBW",
    "theme_color": "#204080",
    "orientation": "any",
    "background_color": "#204080",
    "related_applications": [],
    "prefer_related_applications": false
}

And here is the registration from the SW where I see that its installed in the /dist url

I really appreciate any help since I'm very new to webpack and workbox and I'm completely stuck. Thank you all!!.

Answer 1

The problem is the scope of your Service Worker. Because the sw is inside dist/, it can only control requests to resources inside the /dist/` folder.

I'd recommend using HTMLWebpackPlugin for your index.html which would then be processed by Webpack and ends up in the dist/, and then you'd deploy your dist/ folder