Webpack: router-code-splitter plugin calls process.exit(0) on done in production, terminating the process prematurely

[Pavel-Liteiniy]

Which project does this relate to?

Router

Describe the bug

Summary
The webpack integration of @tanstack/router-plugin’s code-splitter calls process.exit(0) on compiler.hooks.done in production mode. This forcibly ends the Node.js process and can interrupt other plugins’ post-build work (async tasks scheduled in done or afterEmit), and breaks long-running workflows (e.g. production watch).

node_modules/@tanstack/router-plugin/dist/cjs/core/router-code-splitter-plugin.cjs:

if (compiler.options.mode === "production") {
  compiler.hooks.done.tap(PLUGIN_NAME, () => {
    console.info("✅ " + PLUGIN_NAME + ": code-splitting done!");
    setTimeout(() => {
      process.exit(0);
    });
  });
}

Your Example Website or App

none

Steps to Reproduce the Bug or Issue

1. Configure webpack in production mode with @tanstack/router-plugin/webpack.
2. Add any plugin that performs async work after build completion (e.g. a plugin that schedules a setTimeout, uploads artifacts, or writes additional reports in done/afterEmit).
3. Run a production build.

Expected behavior

• Webpack process remains alive until the event loop drains, allowing other plugins’ async post-build tasks to finish.
• If watch is enabled in production, it should keep watching.

Screenshots or Videos

No response

Platform

• Router Version: 1.132.0-alpha.13
• Bundler: Webpack
• Bundler Version: 5.91.0

Additional context

https://github.com/TanStack/router/blob/main/packages/router-plugin/src/core/router-code-splitter-plugin.ts#L245

[schiller-manuel]

we are open to PRs to fix this!

[davidgoli]

do we understand why this is? why not just delete this code?

        if (compiler.options.mode === 'production') {
          compiler.hooks.done.tap(PLUGIN_NAME, () => {
            console.info('✅ ' + PLUGIN_NAME + ': code-splitting done!')
            setTimeout(() => {
              process.exit(0)
            })
          })
        }

[jameshoward]

Just to help anyone searching for it, I think this might be why our --json stats outputting has stopped working since switching to TanStack Router. Everything looks to work fine but we end up with an empty stats file.

[Pavel-Liteiniy]

@SeanCassiere, could you please take a look at this issue?

If I’m not mistaken, it was added here

[Pavel-Liteiniy]

I ran into this in production builds: because @tanstack/router-plugin calls process.exit(0) on compiler.hooks.done, @sentry/webpack-plugin stops working — filesToDeleteAfterUpload never runs. This fails silently (the build succeeds but the post-step doesn’t execute), which creates a risk of leaking sourcemaps in production.

[SeanCassiere]

@Pavel-Liteiniy sorry, I didn't see your comment till just now. I've got it going through CI at the moment. Once done it can get merged in.