VueUse - The library that makes Vue 3 worth the upgrade

Composition API promotes a much better paradigm of sharing code between components. Explicit dependencies and namespacing by design enable us to share code even between different projects. This is the main idea behind VueUse.

VueUse is a collection of 200+ essential utility functions for interacting with various APIs like browser, state, network, animation, time and more.

A small sample of these utilities enables you to:

• use the clipboard API (demo below)
• reactive time ago (demo below)
• watch debounced or throttled
• create virtual lists with ease
• create fancy favicons or page titles
• track window size and focus
• track the visibility of an element within the viewport
• create a zone where files can be dropped (demo below)
• make elements draggable
• create reactive LocalStorage/SessionStorage

and so many more!

Extensible with add-ons

The core package aims to be lightweight and dependence free. Integration with popular packages is supported using add-ons. This ensures a consistent API style.

Some existing add-ons currently are:

• Electron
• Firebase
• Motion
• RxJS
• Sound

More information about VueUse addons here.

Examples

Let’s explore some examples from the official VueUse docs.

Dropzone

Creates a zone where files can be dropped.

<script setup lang="ts">
import { useDropZone } from '@vueuse/core'

const dropZoneRef = ref<HTMLDivElement>()

function onDrop(files: File[] | null) {
  // called when files are dropped on zone
}

const { isOverDropZone } = useDropZone(dropZoneRef, onDrop)
</script>

<template>
  <div ref="dropZoneRef">
    Drop files here
  </div>
</template>

Dropzone interactive demo

Clipboard

Reactive Clipboard API.

import { useClipboard } from '@vueuse/core'

const source = ref('Hello')
const { 
    text, 
    copy, 
    copied, 
    isSupported 
} = useClipboard({ source })

<button @click='copy()'>
  <!-- by default, `copied` will be reset in 1.5s -->
  <span v-if='!copied'>Copy</span>
  <span v-else>Copied!</span>
</button>

Clipboard interactive demo

Click outside utility

Listen for clicks outside of an element.

<template>
  <div ref="target">
    Hello world
  </div>
  <div>
    Outside element
  </div>
</template>

<script>
import { ref } from 'vue'
import { onClickOutside } from '@vueuse/core'
export default {
  setup() {
    const target = ref(null)
    onClickOutside(target, (event) => console.log(event))
    return { target }
  }
}
</script>

Click outside interactive demo

Parallax

_Create a parallax effect. It uses useDeviceOrientation and fallback to useMouse if orientation is not supported.

Parallax interactive demo

WatchDebounced

Something that you definitely have implemented in the past. A debounced watch.

import { watchDebounced } from '@vueuse/core'

watchDebounced(
  source,
  () => { console.log('changed!') },
  { debounce: 500, maxWait: 1000 },
)

WatchDebounced interactive demo

TimeAgo

import { useTimeAgo } from '@vueuse/core'

const timeAgo = useTimeAgo(new Date(2021, 0, 1))

useTimeAgo interactive demo

Conclusion

We only touched the surface, but hopefully, you got the idea of how awesome this library is. There are hundreds of utilities to explore (currently 274!), and the number is constantly rising. Of course, you can contribute your own If you find something’s missing.

Libraries like VueUse are leading the way to make Vue awesome again. They promote code reusability and improve the overall developer experience.

Dive into the awesome documentation, spread the word and maybe give the author a credit (or buy him a coffee ☕️).