Replace boilerplate by a CRA template or fork

[smaniotto]

Problem definition

We're currently working on the UI Toolkit repo to structure it based on this boilerplate, but we will need a couple of workarounds (ie: extra work) to keep updates in sync between both repos.

By using create react app (either template or fork), all these updates would be in sync with a version bump. The main con is loosing flexibility in the Webpack configs, but on the good side, we don't have to tweak Webpack anymore.

I believe that the main blocker of adopting CRA in the past was support for PostCSS and CSS Modules, but since v2 launch (late 2018) it has support.

Template, fork or both

The main pro of using a template is having CRA easily updated (just a version bump). And the main pro of using a fork is having more flexibility in the Webpack configs if needed, but updates will have to be patched manually. We can also use a combination of both, a template that uses a forked version of create react app.

In my opinion, we could start with the template and fork only if needed.

Any obvious problem that I'm not considering?

[helderberto]

Problem definition

We're currently working on the UI Toolkit repo to structure it based on this boilerplate, but we will need a couple of workarounds (ie: extra work) to keep updates in sync between both repos.

By using create react app (either template or fork), all these updates would be in sync with a version bump. The main con is loosing flexibility in the Webpack configs, but on the good side, we don't have to tweak Webpack anymore.

I believe that the main blocker of adopting CRA in the past was support for PostCSS and CSS Modules, but since v2 launch (late 2018) it has support.

Template, fork or both

The main pro of using a template is having CRA easily updated (just a version bump). And the main pro of using a fork is having more flexibility in the Webpack configs if needed, but updates will have to be patched manually. We can also use a combination of both, a template that uses a forked version of create react app.

In my opinion, we could start with the template and fork only if needed.

Any obvious problem that I'm not considering?

Great idea!
I think CRA has a greater community and can be more easy to update and maintain instead of front-end-boilerplate.

[goodsmith]

In a conversation with @smaniotto he list the following points to study the change:

• Atomic design
• Storybook
• PostCSS Config
• ESLint Config
• CodeClimate Config
• Circle CI Config
• Stylelint Config

As a rule of thumb, if you need to change Webpack, you can only do it ejecting, forking React Scripts, or with a lib that forks react-scripts.

1. Atomic Design: Can be done, but we cannot define path alias, only src;
2. Storybook: Can be done with no problems;
3. PostCSS Config: cannot be done;
4. Eslint Config: can be changed, but CRA adds the config to webpack, which logs the linter problems in the browser and on the console, those previous config will continue being logged regardless of the .eslintrc;
5. CodeClimate Config: can be done;
6. CircleCI Config: can be done;
7. Stylelint Config: can be added, but cannot have the same features as the default CRA Eslint config;