7.12.0 Released: TypeScript 4.1, strings as import/export names, and class static blocks

October 15, 2020

We just published a new minor version of Babel!

This release includes support for the new TypeScript 4.1 beta features: template literal types and key remapping in mapped types.

Additionally, we implemented two new ECMAScript proposals: class static blocks and imports and exports with string names.

Lastly, we renamed @babel/plugin-syntax-module-attributes (and the corresponding parser plugin moduleAttributes) to @babel/plugin-syntax-import-assertions (and importAssertions), to match the recent proposal updates. The old plugin will work until Babel 8, but it's deprecated now.

You can read the whole changelog on GitHub.

7.11.0 Released: ECMAScript 2021 support in preset-env, TypeScript 4.0 support, printing config and the future of `babel-eslint`

July 30, 2020

Huáng Jùnliàng

We just released a new minor version of Babel!

This 7.11 release includes:

preset-env support for Logical Assignments (??=), Numeric Separators (1_2) and Namespace re-exports (export * as ns from ...)
TypeScript 4.0 support
Parser support for the Stage-1 Decimal proposal (7.11m)
An environment flag to print the resolved Babel configuration for a given file (BABEL_SHOW_CONFIG_FOR)

In addition to this, we are now releasing the successor of babel-eslint: @babel/eslint-parser!

You can read the whole changelog on GitHub.

The State of babel-eslint

July 13, 2020

Kai Cataldo

babel-eslint is moved to @babel/eslint-parser!

7.10.0 Released: Class Fields in preset-env, '#private in' checks and better React tree-shaking

May 25, 2020

Nicolò Ribaudo

We just released a new minor version of Babel!

This 7.10 release includes:

Full support for the new Stage 1 proposal, #prop in obj checks for private fields proposal.
@babel/preset-env now compiles ES2015-style Unicode escapes (\u{Babe1}) to the equivalent legacy syntax (\uDAAA\uDFE1).
Two improvements to the Optional Chaining operator (?.)
Parser support for the new Stage 1 Module Attributes proposal (import a from "./a.json" with type: "json").
Better tree-shaking support for React code (i.e. React.memo)!
Setting up RFCs repo and GitHub Discussions pages!

You can read the whole changelog on GitHub.

7.9.0 Released: Smaller preset-env output, Typescript 3.8 support and a new JSX transform

March 16, 2020

Nicolò Ribaudo

While preparing the Babel 8.0.0 release (in the next months), we just finished working on a new minor release which includes updates related to @babel/preset-env, TypeScript 3.8, Flow, and JSX!

A few months ago, Jason Miller started working on @babel/preset-modules: an experiment to greatly reduce bundle sizes when using the module/nomodule pattern. We are excited to announce that its functionality has now been merged into @babel/preset-env! This means that its optimizations can be applied to all preset-env targets values, without a separate preset.

Note: These optimizations will be enabled by default in Babel 8. They can be manually enabled in Babel 7.9 by passing in the option { bugfixes: true } to preset-env.

This release also has full support for TypeScript 3.8, which introduced explicit type-only imports and exports (i.e. export type { foo }), and for Flow 0.120, which introduced the declare modifier for class fields (i.e. class C { declare foo: string }).

We also worked with the React team to provide a new JSX transform, which will make it possible for React and React-like libraries to further optimize the creation of JSX elements with the addition of the jsx function vs. React.createElement.

Lastly, @babel/parser now supports an additional ECMAScript proposal: Record & Tuple. Please note that this is only parser support, and the transforms are still being worked on.

You can read the whole changelog on GitHub.

7.8.0 Released: ECMAScript 2020, .mjs configuration files and @babel/cli improvements

January 11, 2020

Nicolò Ribaudo

This is the first release of the year! 🎉

Babel 7.8.0 supports the new ECMAScript 2020 features by default: you don't need to enable individual plugins for nullish coalescing (??), optional chaining (?.) and dynamic import() anymore with preset-env.

We also finished aligning our different configuration files with the formats natively supported by Node.js, a process that we started in the 7.7.0 release.

Lastly, Babel's CLI now supports two new options: --out-file-extension and --copy-ignored.

You can read the whole changelog on GitHub.

Babel's Funding Plans

November 8, 2019

Henry Zhu

One of the greatest strengths of open source software is that it is open and free for anyone to contribute. This also leads to one of its greatest challenges, which is to support consistent, sustainable maintenance.

Babel isn't a company. As mentioned in the 7.0.0 post, the all-volunteer Babel team (sans Henry) has been doing its best to steward the project and handle all the expectations of the community. We're glad that we have continued to make releases, but even keeping up-to-date with reported issues is difficult to manage, let alone our integrations with other tools, new proposals, and effect on the greater ecosystem.

In March 2018, Henry left his job to start working on securing more funding for Babel. After a lot of work and support from the community, the team was able to fund Henry as a full-time maintainer.

This has been a big win for the team, but we're finding that it is not enough.

7.7.0 Released: Error recovery and TypeScript 3.7

November 5, 2019

Nicolò Ribaudo

Today we are releasing Babel 7.7.0!

This release includes new parser features like top-level await (await x(), Stage 3) and Flow enum declarations (Flow proposal). And now, @babel/parser has the option of recovering from certain syntax errors!

We've also added support for TypeScript 3.7: Babel can parse and transform private class fields with type annotations, public class fields annotations defined using the declare keyword, type assertion function signatures and template literals in enum declarations.

Babel now understands three new configuration files: babel.config.json, babel.config.cjs and .babelrc.cjs, which behave the same as babel.config.js and .babelrc.js files.

Lastly, Babel 7.7.0 uses 20% less memory than 7.6.0.

You can read the whole changelog on GitHub.

7.6.0 Released: Private static accessors and V8 intrinsic syntax

September 5, 2019

Nicolò Ribaudo

We just released a new minor Babel version!

It includes support for static private accessors in classes, and parser support for the V8 intrinsics syntax. We also fixed a bunch of long-standing issues related to TDZ handling, and improved support for do-expressions. You can read the whole changelog on GitHub.

7.5.0 Released: dynamic import and F# pipelines

July 3, 2019

Nicolò Ribaudo

Today we are releasing Babel 7.5.0!

This release includes improved support for a few ECMAScript proposals: the F# variant of the Stage 1 pipeline operator and an official plugin for the Stage 4 dynamic import() proposal (along with preset-env support). It also has support for TypeScript namespaces (experimental) and for Browserslist's default query in preset-env.

You can read the whole changelog on GitHub.