Vue Composables Development

When to Apply

Activate this skill when:

• Creating custom composables
• Using Composition API features (ref, reactive, computed)
• Working with watchers and lifecycle hooks
• Implementing provide/inject patterns
• Managing component state with Composition API

Documentation

Use search-docs for detailed Vue 3 Composition API patterns and documentation.

Basic Usage

Refs and Reactive

// Ref for primitives const count = ref(0); count.value++; // Access with .value

// Reactive for objects const state = reactive({ name: '', items: [], }); state.name = 'Updated'; // Direct access

// Computed const doubled = computed(() => count.value * 2);

Custom Composables

Create reusable logic with composables:

export function useCounter(initial = 0) { const count = ref(initial);

const doubled = computed(() => count.value * 2);

function increment() {
    count.value++;
}

function decrement() {
    count.value--;
}

return {
    count,
    doubled,
    increment,
    decrement,
};

}

Watchers

const search = ref('');

// Watch specific ref watch(search, (newValue, oldValue) => { console.log(Search changed from ${oldValue} to ${newValue}); });

// Watch with options watch(search, (value) => { fetchResults(value); }, { immediate: true, debounce: 300 });

// Watch multiple sources watch([firstName, lastName], ([first, last]) => { fullName.value = ${first} ${last}; });

// watchEffect - auto-tracks dependencies watchEffect(() => { console.log(Count is: ${count.value}); });

Lifecycle Hooks

onBeforeMount(() => { // Before component mounts });

onMounted(() => { // Component mounted - DOM available window.addEventListener('resize', handleResize); });

onUnmounted(() => { // Cleanup window.removeEventListener('resize', handleResize); });

Async Composables

export function useFetch<T>(url: string) { const data = ref<T | null>(null); const error = ref<Error | null>(null); const loading = ref(false);

async function execute() {
    loading.value = true;
    error.value = null;

    try {
        const response = await fetch(url);
        data.value = await response.json();
    } catch (e) {
        error.value = e as Error;
    } finally {
        loading.value = false;
    }
}

execute();

return { data, error, loading, refetch: execute };

}

Provide/Inject

const theme = ref('dark'); provide('theme', theme);

// Child component (any depth) import { inject } from 'vue';

const theme = inject('theme', ref('light')); // With default

Type-Safe Composables

interface UseModalReturn { isOpen: Ref; open: () => void; close: () => void; toggle: () => void; }

export function useModal(): UseModalReturn { const isOpen = ref(false);

return {
    isOpen,
    open: () => (isOpen.value = true),
    close: () => (isOpen.value = false),
    toggle: () => (isOpen.value = !isOpen.value),
};

}

Composable Conventions

• Name composables with use prefix: useCounter, useFetch
• Place in composables/ directory
• Return refs, not raw values (maintains reactivity)
• Document parameters and return types
• Clean up side effects in onUnmounted

Common Pitfalls

• Destructuring reactive objects (loses reactivity) - use toRefs()
• Forgetting .value when accessing refs in script
• Not cleaning up event listeners or intervals in onUnmounted
• Creating composables that don't return reactive references
• Using ref when reactive is more appropriate for complex objects