Babel 7 with Express - node.js

Question

I am trying to use Babel 7 with Express and I have resolved all errors that have come my way, but I cannot get the Express server to start. I'm unsure if this is because there is no substitute (to my knowledge) for babel-node or if I am doing something wrong.
Here is my package.json
{
"name": "MEAN-Package",
"version": "0.1.0",
"description": "A package for the exercises",
"main": "index.js",
"author": "Chasen Bettinger",
"license": "MIT",
"scripts": {
"start": "nodemon server.js --exec babel"
},
"dependencies": {
"connect": "^3.6.6",
"express": "^4.16.3",
"mongodb": "^3.0.4"
},
"devDependencies": {
"#babel/cli": "^7.0.0-beta.42",
"#babel/core": "^7.0.0-beta.42",
"#babel/preset-env": "^7.0.0-beta.42",
"nodemon": "^1.17.2"
}
}
Here is server.js
import express from "express";
const app = express();
app.use("/", (req, res) => {
res.status(200).send("Hello World");
});
app.listen(3000);
console.log("Server running at http://localhost:3000/");
export { app as default };
My .babelrc file
{
"presets": ["#babel/preset-env"]
}
Console output:
Trying to learn express so any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

You should you babel-node instead of babel. Follow these steps to fix it:
Add babel-node:
yarn add #babel/node --dev
2- Change your start script on package.json to:
"scripts": {
"start": "nodemon server.js --exec babel-node",
}

Answer 2

You should not be using babel-node in production. It is unnecessarily heavy, with high memory usage due to the cache being stored in memory. You will also always experience a startup performance penalty as the entire app needs to be compiled on the fly.
the correct way is:
npm i -D #babel/node
and
"scripts": {
"start": "nodemon server.js --exec babel-node",
}
npm run start