webpack-dev-server

A development server that provides live reloading for webpack projects, using webpack-dev-middleware for fast in-memory asset access. Current stable version is 5.2.3 (released January 2026). Active maintenance with frequent patch releases. Major differentiating features include: live reloading, HMR, overlay for runtime errors, proxy for API forwarding, HTTPS support, and TypeScript type definitions. Requires Node >= 18.12.0 and webpack ^5.0.0 as peer dependency. Breaking changes in v5 include stricter CORS and WebSocket security, removal of certain options like `inline` and `lazy`, and migration from webpack-cli v4 to v5.