Vite's Dependency Pre-Bundling

Vite's dev server pre-bundles dependencies to accelerate local development by serving fewer, browser-native files. This converts dependencies shipped as CommonJS or UMD into native ESM the browser understands. It also combines packages with hundreds of internal modules, like lodash-es, into a single file, preventing massive network request waterfalls that slow down page loads. The footgun: imports not directly discoverable in your source code can cause a disruptive re-bundle right after the server starts.