By default, any JavaScript files in your Meteor application folder are bundled and loaded on both the client and the server. However, the names of the files and directories inside your project can affect their load order, where they are loaded, and some other characteristics. Here is a list of file and directory names that are treated specially by Meteor:
* imports : Any directory named imports/ is not loaded anywhere and files must be imported using import.
* node_modules : Any directory named node_modules/ is not loaded anywhere. node.js packages installed into node_modules directories must be imported using import or by using Npm.depends in package.js.
* client : Any directory named client/ is not loaded on the server. Similar to wrapping your code in if (Meteor.isClient) { ... }. All files loaded on the client are automatically concatenated and minified when in production mode. In development mode, JavaScript and CSS files are not minified, to make debugging easier. CSS files are still combined into a single file for consistency between production and development, because changing the CSS file’s URL affects how URLs in it are processed.
HTML files in a Meteor application are treated quite a bit differently from a server-side framework. Meteor scans all the HTML files in your directory for three top-level elements: <head>, <body>, and <template>. The head and body sections are separately concatenated into a single head and body, which are transmitted to the client on initial page load.
* server : Any directory named server/ is not loaded on the client. Similar to wrapping your code in if (Meteor.isServer) { ... }, except the client never even receives the code. Any sensitive code that you don’t want served to the client, such as code containing passwords or authentication mechanisms, should be kept in the server/ directory.
Meteor gathers all your JavaScript files, excluding anything under the client, public, and private subdirectories, and loads them into a Node.js server instance. In Meteor, your server code runs in a single thread per request, not in the asynchronous callback style typical of Node.
* public : All files inside a top-level directory called public/ are served as-is to the client. When referencing these assets, do not include public/ in the URL, write the URL as if they were all in the top level. For example, reference public/bg.png as <img src='/bg.png' />. This is the best place for favicon.ico, robots.txt, and similar files.
* private : All files inside a top-level directory called private/ are only accessible from server code and can be loaded via the Assets API. This can be used for private data files and any files that are in your project directory that you don’t want to be accessible from the outside.
* client/compatibility : This folder is for compatibility with JavaScript libraries that rely on variables declared with var at the top level being exported as globals. Files in this directory are executed without being wrapped in a new variable scope. These files are executed before other client-side JavaScript files.
It is recommended to use npm for 3rd party JavaScript libraries and use import to control when files are loaded.
* tests : Any directory named
tests/ is not loaded anywhere. Use this for any test code you want to run using a test runner outside of
Meteor’s built-in test tools.
The following directories are also not loaded as part of your app code :
* Files/directories whose names start with a dot, like .meteor and .git
* packages/ : Used for local packages
* cordova-build-override/ : Used for advanced mobile build customizations
* programs : For legacy reasons
