Gridsome/Vue.js: How do I reduce the core bundle size?
I just started a new Gridsome site, and the app.js file is ~181kB as well. Gridsome's docs say:
Gridsome adds a 57kB min gzip JS bundle size by default.(vue.js,vue-router, vue-meta and some for image lazy loading).
I ran gzip app.js on my built app.js file, and ended up with a 63kB file. Based on that, and the fact that the default build is 57kB by default, I think you're not going to end up with a much smaller app.js file without a whole lot of custom work to strip out unused things.
I think this is just part of the downside of using prebuilt libraries and frameworks, unfortunately. That's not to say there aren't ways to improve things, but out of the box it looks like this is what you get.