How to Work with Absolute Path Imports in Gatsby

While working on a Gatsby project, I found setting up absolute path imports slightly complicated. I prefer using the ~/ tilde notation for absolute imports over relative paths.

Example:

js
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import Component from "~/components/Component"; // Absolute import
vs.
import Component from "../../../../components/Component"; // Relative import

Here’s how I made it work.

Adding a Custom Webpack Config

Gatsby provides plugins for this, but they often don’t work well with VS Code’s “Go to Definition.” Instead, you can configure Webpack manually in gatsby-node.js:

gatsby-node.js
js
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const path = require("path");

exports.onCreateWebpackConfig = ({ actions }) => {
  actions.setWebpackConfig({
    resolve: {
      alias: {
        "~": path.resolve(__dirname, "src/"),
      },
      extensions: [".ts", ".tsx", ".js", ".jsx"],
    },
  });
};

Now, you can import files like this:

js
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import Header from "~/components/layout/Header";

Issue: VS Code “Go to Definition” Doesn’t Work

Even with Webpack aliasing, VS Code may not recognize the paths, making navigation difficult.

Fixing VS Code Path Resolution

To fix this, add a tsconfig.json (for TypeScript) or jsconfig.json (for JavaScript) in the root of your project:

tsconfig.json
json
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{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "paths": {
      "~/*": ["src/*"]
    }
  }
}

Result: VS Code “Go to Definition” Now Works

With this setup, pressing Ctrl + Click on a component or function will navigate to the correct file.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!