Features Timeline
Which major new features did we introduce in each Babel version? This page includes a very short summary for each minor release, or you can read the full changelog on GitHub! Additionally, use this timeline to track some other important efforts, such as the babel-polyfills project.
Babel 7.17.0
Support for the new version of the decorators Stage 2 proposal
class A {
@reactive #x = 2;
@logger
method() {
this.#x++;
}
}
Support for the RegExp set notation and properties of strings Stage 2 proposal
/[\p{RGI_Emoji}&&[\0-\uFFFF]]/v;
Parser support for the private destructuring Stage 2 proposal
class A {
#x = 2;
method() {
const { #x: x } = this;
}
}
Babel 7.16.0
Enable the class static blocks Stage 4 proposal by default
class A {
static {
initialize(A);
}
}
TypeScript 4.5 support
- Support ESLint 8 in
@babel/eslint-parser
.
Babel 7.15.0
Enable parsing for the top-level await Stage 4 proposal by default
import db from "db";
await db.connect();
Enable the Private Brand Checks Stage 4 proposal by default
class A {
static { initialize(A); } // static block
#field;
is(obj) {
return #field in obj; // private brand check
}
}
Support the “Hack-style” pipeline operator Stage 2 proposal
const result = "World" |> `Hello, ${%}!` |> alert(%);
TypeScript 4.4 support
Babel 7.14.0
- Enable the Class Fields, Private Methods and Static Class Features Stage 4 proposals by default
Add the Private Brand Checks and Static Class Blocks proposals to
@babel/preset-env
‘s shippedProposalsclass A {
static { initialize(A); } // static block
#field;
is(obj) {
return #field in obj; // private brand check
}
}
Support for the async do expressions proposal
let valP = async do {
2 + await computeIt();
};
Support for the importInterop: “node” option in
@babel/plugin-transform-modules-commonjs
, to aligh Babel with the Node.js behavior- TypeScript 4.3 support
Babel 7.13.0
- Top-level targets option (RFC)
- Granular compiler assumptions (docs, RFC)
Support for the Records and Tuples proposals
let rec = #{ x: 1 };
let tup = #[1, 2, 3];
TypeScript 4.2 support
Babel 7.12.0
Support for the class static blocks proposal
class A {
static { initialize(A); }
}
Support for imports and exports string names
let happy = "wooo!";
export { happy as "😃" };
Parser support for the Import Assertions proposal
import json from "./foo.json" assert { type: "json" };
TypeScript 4.1 support
Babel 7.11.0
- Enable the Logical Assignment and Numeric Separator Stage 4 proposals by default
Parser support for the Decimal proposal
console.assert(0.1m + 0.2m === 0.3m);
TypeScript 4.0 support
@babel/eslint-parser
Babel 7.10.0
- Enable parser support for the import.meta Stage 4 proposal by default
Support for the Ergonomic brand checks for Private Fields proposal
class Car {
#plate;
race(other) {
if (#plate in other) console.log("Racing against another car!");
}
}
babel-polyfills
Babel 7.9.0
- bugfixes option in
@babel/preset-env
, to workaround browsers bugs rather than compiling whole Features - TypeScript 3.8 support
- Support for Flow
declare
class fields - Support for the automatic JSX runtime
- bugfixes option in
Babel 7.8.0
- Enable the Optional Chaining and the Nullish Coalescing Stage 4 proposals by default
- Support
.mjs
configuration files
Babel 7.7.0
Parser support for the top-level await proposal
import db from "./database.js";
await db.connect();
Add error recovery support for Early Errors in
@babel/parser
- Support
.json
and.cjs
configuration files - TypeScript 3.7 support
Babel 7.6.0
Support for static private accessors, part of the static class features proposal
class Dog {
static get #className() { return "Dog"; }
}
Babel 7.5.0
Support for the F# pipeline operator proposal
num |> add(2) |> double
TypeScript
namespace
support
Babel 7.4.0
- Support for injecting
core-js@3
polyfills Support for the Partial Application proposal
strings.map(parseInt(?));
Support for static private methods, part of the static class features proposal
class Dog {
static #register() { /* ... */ }
}
TypeScript 3.4 support
- Support for injecting
Babel 7.3.0
Support for instance private accessors, part of the private methods proposal
class Dog {
get #randomId() { return Math.random(); }
}
Support for the smart pipeline operator proposal
num |> add(2, #) |> double
Support for named capturing groups in regular expressions
str.match({String.raw`/^(?<year>\d{4})-(?<month>\d{2})-(?<day>\d{2})$/`})
TypeScript 3.2 and 2.9 support
Babel 7.2.0
Support for instance private methods, part of the private methods proposal
class Dog {
#bark() { console.log("Mew!") }
}
Babel 7.1.0
Support for the decorators proposal, as it was specified in September 2018
class Person {
@autoIncrement age;
}
Support for static private fields, part of the static class features proposal
class Person {
static #classId = 3;
}
Babel 7
This has a lot more changes since it was 2 years of pre-releases.
- Drop support for un-maintained Node versions: 0.10, 0.12, 4, 5
- Switch to scoped packages (babel-core to @babel/core)
- Remove yearly presets (
@babel/preset-es2015
) and Stage presets (@babel/preset-stage-0
) (blog post). - Added “pure” (
/*#__PURE__*/
) annotation support in certain cases. (Implemented later as @babel/helper-annotate-as-pure - Add project-wide
babel.config.js
config file (docs) and overrides config option. - Added
"useBuiltIns: "usage"
to @babel/preset-env - Support TypeScript via
@babel/preset-typescript
- Support JSX Fragments
<></>
- Support a ton of TC39 proposals:
- Unicode Property Regex
- JSON Superset
- new.target
- Class Private Instance Fields (
class A { #b = 2 }
) - Optional Catch Binding
try { throw 0 } catch { do() }
- BigInt (syntax only)
- import.meta (syntax only) (
import.meta.url
) - Numeric Separators (
1_000
) - function.sent
- Optional Chaining (
a?.b
) - Logical Assignment Operators (
a &&= b; a ||= b
) - Nullish Coalescing Operator (
a ?? b
) - Pipeline Operator (
a |> b
) - Throw Expressions (
() => throw new Error("a")
)