## Summary
`twenty deploy` (and `twenty build`) currently ship front-component
`.mjs` bundles **unminified**, with `process.env.NODE_ENV` undefined at
build time. Two missing options in
`get-base-front-component-build-options.ts` — fix is two lines.
## Why this matters
Each front-component bundle includes React + ReactDOM + the design
system AOT (only `twenty-client-sdk/{core,metadata}` are listed in
`FRONT_COMPONENT_EXTERNAL_MODULES`). A trivial widget measures **~2 MB**
unminified. Because every widget mount spawns a fresh Web Worker that
re-fetches and re-parses the bundle (`FrontComponentWorkerEffect.tsx`),
that 2× size translates directly into 2× cold-start latency on **every
record-page navigation and every browser refresh**. On a CRM with even a
handful of custom widgets this dominates perceived UI latency.
## Why it bites every app, not one user
Reference apps in this repo
(`packages/twenty-apps/fixtures/{minimal,rich}-app`,
`community/github-connector`, `internal/twenty-for-twenty`) ship the
same way — verified by inspecting the released `twenty-sdk@2.5.0`
bundle. There's no CLI flag, env var, or config option to opt into a
production build. A search of issues/PRs for "minify", "bundle size",
"production build" surfaces nothing tracking this.
## Fix
Enable `minify: true` and `define: { 'process.env.NODE_ENV':
'"production"' }` in the base front-component build options. These flow
through `build-application.ts` (the orchestrator for `twenty deploy` and
`twenty build`).
**Watch mode (`twenty dev`) is intentionally untouched.**
`esbuild-watcher.ts` has its own configuration path that doesn't consume
`getBaseFrontComponentBuildOptions()`; it stays unminified so local
rebuilds remain fast and stack traces remain readable during
development.
## Measured impact
Two production extension apps using `twenty-sdk@2.5.0`:
| File | Before | After | Δ |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| `oapps-deal-items` (single widget) | 2,114,953 B | 863,444 B |
**−59%** |
| `oapps-document-hub/documents-panel` | 2,120,341 B | 872,478 B |
**−59%** |
| `oapps-document-hub/hub-document-record` | 2,077,013 B | 852,544 B |
**−59%** |
| `oapps-document-hub/field-mapping-editor` | 1,168,941 B | 255,787 B |
**−78%** |
End-user effect: opening an Opportunity record with two custom-widget
tabs went from ~3-4s widget paint to under 1s on the same machine, same
browser, same record.
## Risk / scope
- **No behavior change.** Minification is a transparent transform;
`NODE_ENV=production` is the standard signal libraries already gate on.
No app code changes needed.
- **No effect on `twenty dev`** — separate code path.
- **No effect on logic functions** — they use their own build-options
object.
- One file touched.
## Test plan
- [ ] `yarn twenty deploy` on
`packages/twenty-apps/fixtures/minimal-app` → output `.mjs` is mangled
and `process.env.NODE_ENV` no longer appears literally inside the
bundle.
- [ ] `yarn twenty dev` on the same app → output `.mjs` remains
readable.
- [ ] Existing CI green.
Happy to add a feature-flag (`TWENTY_BUILD_MODE` env var or `twenty
deploy --no-minify` escape hatch) if maintainers prefer that over
unconditional minification.
---------
Co-authored-by: 8Maverik8 <8maverik8@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: martmull <martmull@hotmail.fr>
