# webpack-dev-server v6.0.0

- Product: webpack-dev-server (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/webpack-dev-server)
- Vendor: webpack
- Date: 2026-07-03
- Version: v6.0.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/releases/tag/v6.0.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/webpack-dev-server/releases/v6.0.0

What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.

Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.

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- **changed** — Bump Express to v5
- **changed** — Bump the webpack peer dependency range from ^5.0.0 to ^5.101.0
- **removed** — Drop support for Node.js < 22.15.0
- **changed** — Convert the source to native ES modules with both ESM and CommonJS builds via the exports field
- **removed** — Remove CLI flags
- **removed** — Remove the internalIP and internalIPSync static methods from Server
- **removed** — Remove the bypass option from proxy configuration
- **removed** — Remove SockJS support from the webSocketServer option
- **removed** — Remove the spdy dependency
- **changed** — Update http-proxy-middleware to v4
- **changed** — Update webpack-dev-middleware to v8 and make server.middleware.getFilenameFromUrl() asynchronous
- **added** — Add plugin support to webpack-dev-server for integrating with the compiler lifecycle
- **changed** — Enable the compression middleware for HTTP/2 connections
- **removed** — Remove the colorette dependency in favor of native ANSI styling
- **changed** — Update chokidar to v5 and extend watchFiles.options.ignored to support glob string patterns via tinyglobby
- **changed** — Use compiler.platform to determine the target environment instead of inspecting the resolved target string
- **changed** — Use the WHATWG URL API instead of the deprecated url.parse
- **changed** — Bump production dependencies notably open to v11 and p-retry to v8
- **security** — Reject cross-site requests to the internal open-editor and invalidate endpoints requiring same-origin validation
- **fixed** — Treat loopback aliases as equivalent in isSameOrigin so the WebSocket client does not reject valid same-origin connections

###### Major Changes

- Bump Express to v5. See the [Express 5 migration guide](https://expressjs.com/en/guide/migrating-5.html) for the full list of breaking changes. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/pull/5674))

- Bump the `webpack` peer dependency range from `^5.0.0` to `^5.101.0`. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/pull/5674))

- Drop support for Node.js < 22.15.0. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/pull/5674))

- Convert the source to native ES modules. The package keeps `"type": "module"` and now exposes both an ESM and a CommonJS build via the `exports` field: ESM consumers import the native `lib/`, while CommonJS consumers `require()` a transpiled `dist/` build, allowing the package to be consumed from both ESM and CommonJS without relying on `require(ESM)` for CommonJS consumers. (by @bjohansebas in #5674)


- Remove CLI flags. Use the `serve` command from `webpack-cli` together with a configuration file or the programmatic API instead. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/pull/5674))

- Remove the `internalIP` and `internalIPSync` static methods from `Server`. Resolve the local IP yourself if you need it. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/pull/5674))

- Remove the `bypass` option from proxy configuration. Use the `router` or `context` options provided by `http-proxy-middleware` instead. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/pull/5674))

- Remove SockJS support. The `webSocketServer` option no longer accepts `"sockjs"`; use the default `"ws"` transport instead. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/pull/5674))

- Remove the `spdy` dependency. Use the built-in `node:http2` module via the `server` option for HTTP/2 support. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/pull/5674))

- Update `http-proxy-middleware` to v4. See the [http-proxy-middleware v3 release notes](https://github.com/chimurai/http-proxy-middleware/releases/tag/v3.0.0) and [v4 release notes](https://github.com/chimurai/http-proxy-middleware/releases/tag/v4.0.0) for the full list of breaking changes. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/pull/5674))

- Update `webpack-dev-middleware` to v8 and sync `originalUrl` for middleware compatibility. `server.middleware.getFilenameFromUrl()` is now asynchronous and resolves to `{ filename, extra: { stats, outputFileSystem } }`. See the [webpack-dev-middleware v8 release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-middleware/releases/tag/v8.0.0) for details. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/pull/5674))

###### Minor Changes

- Add plugin support. `webpack-dev-server` can now be used as a webpack plugin, integrating with the compiler lifecycle without explicitly passing a compiler, preventing multiple server starts on recompilation, ensuring clean shutdown, and supporting `MultiCompiler` setups with multiple independent plugin servers. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/pull/5674))

- Enable the compression middleware for HTTP/2 connections. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/pull/5674))

- Remove the `colorette` dependency in favor of native ANSI styling. (by [@bjohansebas](https://github.com/bjohansebas) in [#5674](https://github.com/we

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